While I will readily concede that extremes of virtually all points of view can be damaging in certain contexts, I must take issue with the current fad of drawing a moral equivalency between an extremist Christian church in America and an extremist Muslim mosque in the middle east.
In America, we have the luxury of living where the vast majority of Muslims you will encounter are as peace loving and amiable as practioners of any faith, and of those who practice no faith whatsoever. On the whole, we're a pretty cool country, as far as religious tolerance goes, even though we DO have our share of whackos, something that's pretty understandable in a country of 300 million.
But not everyone thinks things are so cool. I have read countless articles that compare various conservative Christian groups with the Taliban, al Qaeda, and other Islamic fundamentalist groups. I find those articles and the assertions of those who subscribe to those beliefs troubling, as, except for very few of the "worst of the worst", even some Christians with some hardcore beliefs excercise a great deal of restraint. How can someone, with a straight face, even BEGIN to compare idiots who protest at funerals to deliberately incite others to anger with someone who straps a few pounds of C4 to their carcass and heads into a crowded shopping mall with the express intention of maximizing civilian casualties? While both positions are appalling in this writer's estimation, in the former example, the victims at least retain their life and their right to express outrage.
While there may be examples of Christians in other countries who perform the same vile acts as these Islamic extremists, the press certainly hasn't done much to expose them if, indeed, they exist. And I find it unlikely that a press who would characterize a Jerry Falwell or a Pat Robertson as being "typical" of conservative Christians in America wouldn't jump at the chance to write up a story of a Christian suicide bomber. It would be too sensational for our reporters to pass up.
The Christian faith is far from perfect and certainly has its share of idiots professing to share the faith. But for all its imperfections, the Christian church has, at least in recent years, been relatively peaceful on the world stage. Even the most extremist Christian churches tend to be strong on rhetoric, but weak on action. The same can NOT be said of the most extremist Muslim mosques.