A Retrograde Religion: Islam

Few people with any sort of education in history, can deny that the human race, by and large, has become more generous to its fellow man.  We accept one another's positions in religion and politics.  Of course, the two are generally closely related.  To put it another way, we have become more secular.

That doesn't mean we have caste aside religion or religious thought or religious philosophical concepts.  We don't have to caste aside our religions whatever they might be.  Religions continue to provide a cultural framework for the lives of a great many people.

Secular individuals are generally willing to consider ideas, often coming from work in the sciences, that either defy religious dogma or enter areas not previously contemplated in religious texts.
The Big Bank Theory is an example of a scientific concept at variance with the creationist views of our various religions.  Some will simply disregard the contradictions, especially when they have little bearing in how they conduct their lives.  Others will reinterpret the religious writings of their faith until the contradictions are resolved.  And, yet others will simply deny scientific findings such as the one that holds that earlier creatures we now call dinosaurs once roamed the earth.

But, regardless of our faith, or lack thereof, we now a days generally don't kill one another over  differences in views or differences in faith.

This was not always the case.   Nicolas Antoine. born to Catholic parents, was burned at the stake for subscribing to Judaism.   Katarzyna Weiglowa was another person to die at the stake.  She was set on fire in Kracow Poland in 1539 for converting to Judaism.  These are but two examples.

In Islam, leaving the faith, warrants execution according to Sharriah.  Whether this be by stoning or by decapitation is not clear.

But the difference between Catholicism and Islam is that Christianity gave up the murder of individuals leaving the Catholic faith for another faith centuries ago.  For Jews there was never such a prohibition.  But, hundreds of years ago, Jews did practice bigamy and did allow for the stoning of disobedient children.  But, of course, no more.

Only in orthodox Islamic belief (Salafism) do you still have large numbers of followers adhering to honor killings and other such practices long abandoned by other faiths.  Here we have a religion where believers often described as "very religious" still present the rest of us with a real threat.