Last night the sky was perfectly clear, a glowing, velvety blue vaulted over Planet Earth. A crescent moon hung high, and under it, Mars. A reflection of the state of humankind's endless conflicts veering into a new year? Who knows what the prominent presence of the symbol of the God of War emphasizes about our inability to live in peace with one another?

And perhaps the message delivered a little more than simply that. In that the crescent moon is one of the primary symbols of Islam, and certainly Islam and conflict appear to be disconcertingly matched, from its 7th Century inception as a religion of conquest to its current manifestation as the sole cause of terrorism through jihad infesting world communities around the globe.

It is food for reflection, albeit uncomfortably sitting on our minds. There, sitting on our minds because of the prevalence and reach into every corner of the world of a religion purporting to be one of peace, but peace eluding even those Muslim faithful whose brand of Islam fails to sit well with those sects who name them apostates, fit for death.

So the question arises, will the war against the Islamic State, which presents as the current presence of malevolent Islam with its Medieval-style executions leaning heavily on the scale of atrocities to shock a world that imagined itself grown well beyond such barbarism succeed in its campaign to put the restive beast to rest?

Amid the jarring reality that Muslim nations like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran among others consider non-Muslims to represent an inferior representation of humanity, countries where apostasy's cure is a death sentence, where state death penalties depend on crucifixion, beheading, torture and public hanging relate to Islam's treasured Shariah law.