It seems to me that Islam is seen as the vangaard of an area of human interest known as 'faith'. As such it is the serpents head, the lopping off of which will destroy the serpent. What is the nature of that serpent? Ignorance, barbarism? Is it right to identify Islam or even faith with these things? I don't think so, and whats more I don't think that a proper debate has occured beyond superficialities.In attampting to engage people in debate and discussion about this, I have encountered artificial polarisations, bloggers who, because they have been on TV can say anything they like, and as long as it chimes with the public mood, they will not be questioned.So far it has been a sort of closed affair with openents (i.e so called exponents of Islam) hand picked by the media and then easily defeated.What I've seen so far is nothing but propaganda, but I expect more from Open Democracy.