Andrew, if people contend that what was written then is the verbatim word of God, which can be amended only by God Himself, and they are relying on it in the here and now as justification for savagery, then what was written then is a highly relevant issue.
Moreover, as public discussion about Islam — especially in the mainstream media and among U.S. government officials — is rife with propaganda about “religion of peace” and non-stop allusions to the “no compulsion in religion” verse (2:256), I think it is important, in terms of accuracy and balance, to alert people (a) about the not-so-peaceful stuff in the Koran, and (b) lest we underestimate what we confront as a mere fringe of maniacs (which we are wishfully wont to do), about the fact that those we refer to as “radicals” actually constitute a large bloc of Islam whose ideology is both rational (albeit noxious) and rooted in scripture (i.e., not the product of an acid trip or some other mental instability).