In Kay Little’s rebuttal (Dec. 18) to a Cal Thomas column of Dec. 5 was a plea for a respectful tolerance toward the Muslim faith and its adherents with which I can largely concur. However, I disagree with her on a couple of issues.

First, she faults Thomas — I believe unfairly — for some of the language he used. To cite one instance: When Thomas refers to Islam as a “peaceful religion,” using scare quotes, she refers to such usage as being “sarcastic” – a usage I would call “ironical.”

Second, she appears to minimize the recognizable threat posed by Islamists – many of whom are truly radicalized – and whom, she says, comprise “about 10-15 percent of the world’s Muslims” — truly a significant number, considering a population numbering more than a billion.

Moreover, the words “Islamist,” and “Islamism,” have acquired negative connotations, associated as they are with Islamic terrorism. In fact, Islamism has been compared with and/or likened to other “isms,” most notably, Fascism.

Therein lies the problem — a problem which moderate Muslims need to address.

Many Islamists espouse (1) the reestablishment of the caliphate – thus representing a continuing existential threat to Israel, as well as some other nations; (2) the imposition of sharia law, wherever possible; and (3) consolidation of religion and state. They, thus, represent a philosophy that is incompatible with and antithetical to the notions most people in the U.S. have of democracy and freedom, and to those of freedom-loving people everywhere.

Stanley Rice, Turner