Censored by whom?

On the contrary, I have protested against NATO's failure to have sufficient respect for the lives of innocent civilians - see, eg, my Project Syndicate column "What Price an Afghan Life?" April 1, 2011. But to say that ISIS have killed only a handful is clearly false. Just today the Iraqi forces that have re-taken Tikrit have uncovered mass graves containing the bodies of hundreds of soldiers massacred by ISIS at Camp Speicher.

Hissam Kamal, thanks for your many comments. I had in mind terrorist violence in particular, and the current situation, let's say since September 11, 2001, not going back to Hitler and Stalin, or even to Pol Pot.

Darshit Shah, thanks for your thoughtful comments. To say that this is a battle within Islam, however, is to accept the main point I am making - that we must see this as Islamic extremism, not just as "violent extremism" The other point I was trying to make is that it would be a good thing if, in general, people would become less fanatical about their religion (Christian, Islam, Jewish, Hindu, whatever) and be more ready to accept that they might be wrong.

I am grateful to Zachary Jacob Shuler for his full account of Professor Hartman's comments. Nevertheless, the issue is not whether we agree or disagree with these comments, or even whether we think them foolish, but whether a university should contemplate disciplinary measures against a professor who makes them. If we believe that academic freedom is important, we can surely tolerate professors making statements that many people will find foolish.