Is Islam really worse than other religions?

I am utterly non-religious but I fully disagree with people who single out Islam as being worse. Action depends on how religious text is interpreted and that is based on culture and wider social/political factors.

Quoting nasty verses written in the Qu'ran does not win an argument because it doesn't take account for the vast majority of Muslims who are peaceful and non-fundamentalist. It also doesn't account for the fact that most Christians do not take the Bible literally. Jesus Christ was a socialist pacifist who could forgive anything and the Old Testement God was violent and vengeful.

I live in a part of London with plenty of Muslims and when people call Muslims backward, insular and 'not-integrated' this clashes with my own personal experience. Only 1% of Americans are Muslims and when you don't personally know a group of people, it is easier to be susceptible to media stereotypes.

Also, Reza Aslam is awesome:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1QfgDkFR5E]

plungesponge · 41-45, M

All religions can be awful once the fundies get a hold of it. But I trust Sam Harris's view of it, he says that if you left aliens with Buddhist teachings and came back to find their planet rife with war and terrorists and beheadings, you could be somewhat surprised. But if you left them a copy of the Koran (or for that matter, the Old Testament), that outcome is all too understandable. So is Islam the worst of religions? No, but it certainly is one of the worst in the world at this point of history.