People hate Islam because they think all islamists are extreme and violent.
What percentage believe that anyone who converts from Islam to another religion should be killed? It's honestly hard to imagine something more extreme or violent than that.
I just moved back to America after nearly 10 years in Saudi. Even in liberally minded areas like Egypt, up to 70% of the people feel that apostasy should be punishable by death. The Wahabbis...and more specifically the Salafis....of Saudi (where 17 hijackers came from) ... put the 'fun' in 'fundamentalism'....ok, well, maybe just the mental.
There are two groups in the West who don't like islam....red-neck, hill-billy, knuckle-dragging, uneducated morons....and people who know exactly what they're talking about.
In no way should islam be looked at as "just another religion" until it has gone through it's own Reformation.
-Robert Harpool