How can Muslims be non-radical?

[Sex Panther]

Originally Posted by DerDrache

Given that the very source material of the religion is "radical" (ie. extremely oppressive of women, treats people of unrecognized religious faiths as non-humans, promotes murder of non-Muslims, etc.), why do people convince themselves that they are following Islam by following their significantly altered version? If Allah said "Woman are sexual temptresses who should be covered at nearly all times. Oh, and if they get raped, they should be beaten for being unfaithful to their husband", how can a woman just ignore those vile things, still convince herself that she's properly worshiping that god, and proudly announce her Muslim faith?

Since I know someone will mention Christianity: Christianity's Old Testament was definitely vile, but (correct me if I'm wrong) the New Testament (which replaced the Old) was filled with messages of peace, love, equality, and acceptance.

But I digress: How can someone discard a huge chunk of their religion and still think they are part of it? I'm GLAD that they've discarded all of that bullshit, but my thinking is: If they are going to disobey, that probably means they don't really believe the Koran, in which case, why not find a religion that truly is peaceful and loving and just be done with it? (I think there is some New Testament stuff in Christianity about homosexuality, but since the religion is all about forgiveness and repentance, I can understand why people "discard" things they don't agree with.)

I read the first sentence then stopped. Get fucked. Not following the tiniest details of the koran doesn't make you any less of a muslim. Same with christianity. Not much of the laws and procedures directed by the old testament is followed today.
When I went to Lebanon, my father and I visited a very old sheikh. Besides the typical crap elderly lebanese usually talk about, he said

"There is no such thing as a bad Muslim. You are either a muslim or a non-believer. Or a muslim who isn't as good as he could choose to be."