It's damn near impossible to have not heard of the bloody debacle that ensued months ago in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Omar Mateen was so angered by homosexuality that he decided to kill 49 people for it while pledging allegiance to ISIS, Al Quaeda, and Hezbollah (who are all enemies, interestingly enough).

When taking into account that his father is a well-known Taliban sympathizer, is it really any surprise that he did what he did? This isn't an isolated event either as shown in the Paris Attacks and Charlie Hebdo. We need to acknowledge that the common thread in these attacks was radical Islam.

When delving into the issue of radical Islam, we must avoid two extremes in this discussion. Donald Trump's idiotic demonizing of all Muslims and the far left's pitiful defense of Islam from criticism must be avoided at all cost. We must combat this ideology in the realm of ideas. Intellectuals like Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins have combated this ideology with secularism. It's not just atheists who are leading the ideological fight. Maajid Nawaz, author of Radical,offers a reformist approach to Islam. He has also co-authored a book with Sam Harris. Indonesia has recently declared an theological war on ISIS.

So, while this is certainly a challenge, there are measures being taken. Rather than cowering in fear, intelligent people are taking a stand against this monstrosity. All of us should do exactly the same and avoid falling into the many of the extremes that I have previously mentioned and continue the fight for reason.