Generalisation much? I’m sure you wouldn’t find the encouragement of such extreme behaviour in the Qur’an. There are extremists in every religion and each individual is responsible for his or her own actions.

Er Abby – Have you actually read the Qur’an? It openly encourages violence on non-believers, blasphemers, apostates and followers of other religions.

@ Sean

I bet a million Euro you haven’t read the Qur’an. I’d say you’ve read the Daily Mail though!

Well, Nokia, many years ago I read some of the Qur’an and what Sean said is right. Even just looking at history, Muhammad led the Arabs to attempt to conquer the middle east in order to spread his religion. Unlike Rome or Britain or many other Empires, which fought and conquered to expand territory and increase their wealth, Islamic empires fought to spread their religion.

I agree with the OP.

@ Barry

The Christian crusades were also about spreading their religion.

I share you negative attitude towards all religions but it’s wrong to suggest that most Muslims are extremists. Far from it. Even the ones that are, their actions are motivated by many thing, not solely religion. There’s a lot of politics in there too, as Robert Pape’s study of suicide terrorism convincingly argues.

@Kings your right but same can be said of all religions, especially the other ones.. ;)

I know there are moderate Muslims. My best friend through my late teens and early 20′s was a Kuwaiti med student who was studying in UCC. Sure, he drank, did other stuff that Muslims aren’t supposed to do, but he wasn’t very committed to his religion. Just like many Irish people would label themselves Catholic but not go to mass, etc. But there’s a large number of fundamental Islamists who are still living like it’s 1000AD. I believe that centuries of Western Imperialism has ingrained a siege mentality in these people who fall back on religion because they don’t understand how the world actually works. There was a “golden age” of science in the Islamic world when they were ahead of Europe, but they just didn’t keep the momentum up.

Old Nokia Charger – I have read the Qur’an as it so happens. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t engage in ad hominem attacks on my character, without knowing one iota about me. The Daily Mail is the last place I get my information from. I’d be happy to quote you some passages from the Qur’an which actively encourage hatred and violence on non-muslims.

2:216: “Fighting is prescribed for you and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But God knoweth and ye know not.”

3:151: “Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority”

5:33: “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement”

8:12: “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them”

Need me to continue?

“Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture – [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.”

Yeah, a real book of tolerance and peace that.

Unfortunately they’re a minority

That’s an unfounded statement there mate. They’re not the minority; it’s the violent minority whose acts draw more publicity. The Muslim faith is possibly the largest religion in the world, to say that the majority of its practitioners condone violence is ridiculous. We’d all be long dead by now if it were the case. nnIt’s the interpretation of any religious text that leads extremists to use it as justification. The book itself is just that: a book.

Well said Aaron. Some sense on this thread at last.

After the First Crusade the Christian crusaders indiscriminately slaughtered nearly every man, woman, and child in Jerusalem regardless of whether they were Muslim, Jewish or Christian (although most Christians had been expelled before the siege). Also, what about the Inquisition? It’s not just Islam that has it’s share of atrocities. As Nokia points out above, Israel is committing some horrible racist atrocities in the name of their religion. Tthat aside, I treat all religions with contempt.