We were stunned to read Jonathan Kay’s column describing Geert Wilders’ extreme polemics against Islam and Muslims (“Geert Wilders’ problem with Islam,” May 9). It contained unsupported hyperbole from the Dutch politician, such as “if you would strip the Koran of all the negative, hateful, anti-Semitic material, you would end up with a tiny [booklet].” While Mr. Wilders may have travelled to “dozens of Muslim countries,” this is not a sufficient basis to accord him the status of an intellectual whose proclamations can be taken as true without the support of evidence. It is necessary to prove such bold and extravagant claims by providing all the relevant Koranic references, and to show balance and fairness by holding these up against the full complement of similarly problematic verses in, for instance, the Old and New Testaments, to support the exclusive excoriation of the Koran. Read more