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Originally Posted by molson
Are there smaller sects of Islam, like Christianity, that don't oppose homosexuality, equal rights for women, etc?
Protestan christianity is a very different animal than the than the christianity that the right makes so visible. Perhaps the same is true in Islam, and I'm being unfair making the generalizations. But I grew up Lutheran, a church that has openely gay members (and now, openly gay pastors). I did the whole confirmation/sunday school thing and nobody ever taught me anything about gays or abortion being bad. It was mostly just hippie jesus, which I think is actually a great, hugely tolerant philosophy, regardless of what anyone believes about the "literal truth" of the religion (something at least the Lutherans I grew up with didn't care about in the least).
Islam IS different, as far as I know. If you're a Muslim, Mecca and Medina aren't optional. It's not like the pope RE: Christianity. If you're a Muslim, you don't get to opt out of the Middle East version, or at least, there certainly hasn't been any wide-spread attempts at a mainstream, more tolerant sect of Islam, compatable with Western laws and ideas. That does make Islam more dangerous.
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I'm not an Islamic expert, so I'll refrain from commenting on different strains there. However, you're not really correct on protestantism. There certainly are tolerant churches like you grew up in, but some of the more conservative forms of Christianity are in protestant churches (ie Southern Baptist, Seven Day Adventist, etc.)
I also think it's important to remember that Christianity had a six hundred year head start on Islam. It doesn't excuse a lot of the really awful laws and customs in most Islamic countries, but it looks different if you compare it to Christianity in the 1400s.