Bruce Thornton: Clumsy Apologetics For Islam

A fine essay by Thornton; unfortunately, however, in one part, he repeats one of the inferior variants that seem to be floating around the Blogosphere of that by now famous money quote from Jefferson’s encounter with the Muslim ambassador:

“it was written in the Koran that all Nations who should not have acknowledged [Muslims’] authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find.”

I took several hours at my local university library to track down the definitive quote: