Don’t judge religion

A recent writer began by saying many Muslims are good people and then made an astonishing leap to a conclusion that Islam, however, is a violent religion because of quotes from the Quran inciting violence. Is he saying these Muslims are good in spite of their religion? Isn’t this like saying many Christians and Jews are good people but their religions are violent because of biblical quotes like: “The Lord God of Israel said …Go through the camp from gate to gate and back again. Each of you kill brother, friend, neighbor.” (Exodus 32, 27-29) or “O daughter Babylon … Blessed is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against rocks.” (Psalm 137, 8-9) or many other not-so-gentle exhortations? How easy it is to take words out of context as absolute proof of whatever belief we hold dear, whether that belief is grounded in fact or not.

This story was originally published August 19, 2016 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Don’t judge religion."