<p>It’s true that all religions have the potential for fanaticism, and that most of the major ones have had periods of extremism. However, the simple fact is that NOW Islam has by far the biggest problem in that regard among the major religions. It has large extremist groups supported by governments and by large elements of the population of multiple countries. The extremists and extremist violence have apologists among heads of state, major religious leaders, and leading academics. It’s sad for followers of Islam who aren’t extremists and who don’t support violence, but it’s a huge problem for them.</p>