Religion of Peace

This fantastic article organizes every bit of evidence concerning the nature of islam, asking the tough question, is it really a religion of peace?

Or just the opposite?

It is thorough and comprehensive and covers all the angles, from the koran itself, to the "exemplary" life of the murderous mohammed, to the doctrinal abrogation of the "peaceful" verses in favor of the later "Sword" verses, to the deeds of the ideology, to the opinions of widely diverse thinkers such as John Quincy Adams, Salman Rushdie, and Winston Churchill.

Read it all. Study it, and disseminate it widely.

The author of the piece makes the following addendum to short-circuit the stupid (and common) counterargument to the effect that "well, the Bible is violent/repressive/whatever!"

Note also that my analysis in my article is not dependent on a comparative analysis to the Bible. I am not a Biblical scholar and leave that definitive analysis to others. However, the argument that Islam is a religion of peace because it allegedly contains verses that are no more violent than Biblical passages is not persuasive to me as that is not a valid defense. Would we say that the Nightstalker was peaceful because Ted Bundy was just as violent? When large numbers of people worldwide start committing acts of terrorism that they claim are mandated by the Bible, I will address that issue. Until then, we should focus on the problem at hand.

Besides, as noted above, while I am no Biblical scholar, I have read it and while there are passages in the Old Testament that are inconsitent with modern Western values, those passages seem limited to a certain time and place and are not open-ended commandments to make war until everyone submits to God. Moreover, the New Testament, and especially what is attributed to Jesus, is as peaceful as one could ever hope for. In fact, a strong argument can be made that Jesus was a pacifist and violence committed by Christians or Western societies is done in spite of Christian Doctrine, not because of it.

...

In any event, regardless as to one's opinion of Christianity, that opinion should not justify a failure to recognize the reality of Islam.