Are they ignorant? Liars? Both? Or do they just don't want to see the violent side of it because it would cause them to doubt their faith?
"The word 'jihad' literally means struggle, struggle for a good cause," said Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"It is a concept, a noble concept, within Islam that emphasizes a personal struggle within yourself to be a better person, a better husband, better wife, better worker, better neighbor," he explained. "It is not aggression, and it does not mean to commit harm against other people. If people commit harm against innocent people, it will be in violation of the spirit of Islam and a violation of the concept of jihad."
Is he forgetting that the quran says that non-muslims are criminal, unjust, liars, pervert, etc. and therefore we, as non-muslims (and especially all of you as ex-muslims) are considered as non innocent (criminal) by Allah himself? So technically we are not "innocent" in an islamic point of view... IMO.