Regarding so many comments in the media that "it's just a few fanatics who are perverting our religion", I wanted to post this story.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/18/world/paris-soccer-fans-turkey/?iid=ob_article_footer_expansion&iref=obinsite
Apparently during a moment of silence for the victims in Paris at a match in Istanbul between Greece and Turkey, there wasn't silence. There were chants of "Allahu akbar" during the moment.
So I get that the vast majority of muslims are decent people, as are the vast majority of any large group. I'm not asking for Syrian refugees to be barred from the US (for reasons unrelated to religion). But what I do see with some disturbing regularity is what appears to be support for acts of terrorism among many, many muslims. Cheering in the streets of some cities after 9/11 or Charlie Hebdo, this kind of thing we see in the story above. I understand that the reasons for the support are complex and have as much to do with global power as they do with religion. But what I don't see is muslims marching in protest against the attacks, I don't see muslim countries lining up to take the front lines agains the threat of Islamic terrorists. I do see and read about condemnation from many quarters, but I don't see any action.
I assume this is because there isn't great political support for it. Why not? More muslims are being killed than westerners by these cretins. Where is the outrage? Instead we get people shouting in support during a moment of silence.
It's not as simple as "they're all bad" and it's not as simple as "it's just a few extremists". Just more people talking past one another IMO.