I know full well what you intend with the word "Islamist". It's just that there's something profoundly bizarre about using the name of a religion with an "ist" on the end to signify the violent part of that group. Should we call militant Jews "Jewists"? How about Christians that bomb abortion clinics - "Christists"?

I don't remember voting on the word "Islamist" to take on the meaning you ascribe to it. It just suddenly appeared one day as this new label. Had we used the term 20 years ago, I would think it would be assumed you were talking about someone of the Islam faith not some subset of it.

Now I completely understand linguistic laziness. I definitely have that trait where, if I can find a word with just a couple of syllables to substitute for some long-ass word, I take the shortcut. However, this one reeks of a religious prejudice that I find even in myself these days. It's an easy jump to brand Islam as this bed of seething violence when so many terrible things are being currently carried out in its name and strong condemnation of these acts seems to be lacking from its mainstream leaders.

My worry though is that labels like this just worsen the divide and alienate the vast majority of the religion that seem to live peacefully.

Art