Posted: Apr 03, 2011 12:39 am
Eh, your term may be more accurate, but the common person will have a better understanding of the "moderate Muslim" phrase because the phrase "moderate Christian" has been bandied about for quite awhile now. I agree that there's technically no such thing as a "moderate" religious believer - one either believes their holy book or does not - but too many people want to feel better about themselves by embracing a religion half-heartedly, and they tend to like the "moderate" label because it lets them self-identify with a religion even if they reject the religion's fundamental tenets. It's like all the American Catholics who don't believe anything the Catholic church teaches, yet still identify as "Catholic" on surveys.