I personally would not make a blanket characterization of Islamic fundamentalists as evil any more than I would make a blanket characterization that Christian fundamentalists are evil.

There are evil people in the world and at times evil people hold positions of power and do evil things. But regarding a society that operates with any shared set of moral codes or expectations, that seems to me like a generally beneficial construct. (Am I even allowed to say that here???).

MANY times in our American society I have lamented that one of our greatest weaknesses seems to be the fact that we do not have a culturally shared contract of acceptable behaviors. I'm not just talking about behaviors that are illegal. I'm talking about behaviors that are immoral. For example, it is so common in our society for men to involve themselves with single women or even widows raising young children with zero intention of committing to that family. And it is perfectly acceptable for a woman to abandon her husband and manipulate the court system to also steal his children from him so she can begin a new life elsewhere without the hassle of dealing with him. These are (as I see them) real problems that while not technically illegal are in my opinion absolutely immoral. Both examples cause tremendous harm.

Because our culture has mismatched expectations and ideas about what is and is not acceptable we have an "anything goes" society. Not saying I would want to live in a Muslim country under Taliban rule, but I think I'd probably be happier in a country that had at least a slightly higher shared moral compass than ours, at present, does.

I personally would not make a blanket characterization of Islamic fundamentalists as evil any more than I would make a blanket characterization that Christian fundamentalists are evil.

There are evil people in the world and at times evil people hold positions of power and do evil things. But regarding a society that operates with any shared set of moral codes or expectations, that seems to me like a generally beneficial construct. (Am I even allowed to say that here???).

MANY times in our American society I have lamented that one of our greatest weaknesses seems to be the fact that we do not have a culturally shared contract of acceptable behaviors. I'm not just talking about behaviors that are illegal. I'm talking about behaviors that are immoral. For example, it is so common in our society for men to involve themselves with single women or even widows raising young children with zero intention of committing to that family. And it is perfectly acceptable for a woman to abandon her husband and manipulate the court system to also steal his children from him so she can begin a new life elsewhere without the hassle of dealing with him. These are (as I see them) real problems that while not technically illegal are in my opinion absolutely immoral. Both examples cause tremendous harm.

Because our culture has mismatched expectations and ideas about what is and is not acceptable we have an "anything goes" society. Not saying I would want to live in a Muslim country under Taliban rule, but I think I'd probably be happier in a country that had at least a slightly higher shared moral compass than ours seems to.

I personally would not make a blanket characterization of Islamic fundamentalists as evil any more than I would make a blanket characterization that Christian fundamentalists are evil.

There are evil people in the world and at times evil people hold positions of power and do evil things. But regarding a society that operates with any shared set of moral codes or expectations, that seems to me like a generally beneficial construct. (Am I even allowed to say that here???).

MANY times in our American society I have lamented that one of our greatest weaknesses seems to be the fact that we do not have a culturally shared contract of acceptable behaviors. I'm not just talking about behaviors that are illegal. I'm talking about behaviors that are immoral. For example, it is so common in our society for men to involve themselves with single women or even widows raising young children with zero intention of committing to that family. And it is perfectly acceptable for a woman to abandon her husband and manipulate the court system to also steal his children from him so she can begin a new life elsewhere without the hassle of dealing with him. These are (as I see them) real problems that while not technically illegal are in my opinion absolutely immoral. Both examples cause tremendous harm.

Because our culture has mismatched expectations and ideas about what is and is not acceptable we have an "anything goes" society. Not saying in would want to live in a Muslim country under Taliban rule, but I think I'd probably be happier in a country that had at least a slightly higher shared moral compass than ours seems to.