Our global responsibility now is not to determine who owns what identity, but to convey to future generations what we all owe each other. - Irshad Manji

I've read the scholarship that explains these verses 'in their context', and I think there's a fancy dance of evasion going on.

Islam was not always so close minded. During the 'Golden age' – between the 9th and 11th century – there existed a tradition of critical thinking in the Muslim world.

In Islam's golden age, so much progress was made that it became the basis of the European Renaissance. We Muslims have to change ourselves, that's the main difference. We can't keep blaming America or Israel for our misery.