I am an atheist and concede the catholic sex scandal, Hindus do a lot of dumb shit as well. Crusades were bad. Let us stop pretending that Islam is not uniquely illiberal, backwards and violent in the 21st century, because it is.

Wahhabism and Salafism being spewed out by the gulf states is very unhelpful as you said. However even at a basic level the teachings of Islam are intolerant and taken much more literally than in other faiths.

My best friend is Muslim and in complete denial about the problems of religion. He can't tolerate cartoons without getting angry. It is this tribal us and them thinking, they think the Quran is perfect.

It is a very mediocre, boring and long winded book. There Hadith and prophet preach violence, I don't like how they treat women, I don't like how they treat gay people or atheists or those who leave Islam or how they stone adulterers and kill the above groups in the holy city of Mecca. Ten countries still kill gay people by law, all of them are Islamic.

If they used the Bible as a means of legal prosecution in Jerusalem or Vatican City then it would be equally ridiculous. But they don't.

That is the problem, they still practice the barbarism and take the books way too literally and seriously. Whereas most Jews and Christians don't take it literally or get so upset they throw a fit, for the most part they have had the good sense to blow it off.

Muslims also need to calm the fuck down with that old school desert shit.