I never claimed to be an expert on the Quran or Islamic scripture. I would, however, consider myself to be informed. I've read the Quran and have taken classes on the theological aspects and modern place of Islam. I'm completely aware that there are violent parts of the Quran. I'm also completely aware that there are equally disturbing verses in both Christian and Jewish scripture. Perhaps I stepped too far by saying "nearly all", but I can certainly say that for the Abrahamic traditions. God destroyed cities and killed nearly everything on the planet in the Old Testament- it's not difficult to imagine someone reading things like that and then deciding to take it upon themselves to do God's work through violence. Women are often marginalized. Homosexuals are persecuted. All of the Abrahamic scriptures have these problems.

The fact that Judaism and Christianity don't have so much violence surrounding them today, despite their problematic aspects, is precisely what leads me to believe that its not just the religion itself that is the problem. Subsequent traditions are created by people. Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike have shown that it's possible to accept a religion without adhering to aspects that we would find abhorrent and without loosely/selectively interpreting scripture.

Why are there sects of Islamic people committing horrible acts of violence regularly? Why aren't there sects of Christians and Jews doing the same? All of these traditions are very old, and were codified in greatly different, far less enlightened times. They all still contain verses that we find problematic. It's clear that these Islamic sects have not adjusted well to modern thought and sentiment. But why? There are so many factors to consider: societal, political, cultural, economic, and, yes, religious. Religious extremists make their faith to be their identity, but they don't operate in a vacuum. If ISIS took up Christianity tomorrow, would they suddenly conduct themselves peacefully? I don't deny that religion plays a part in violence, that would be absurd. But religious teachings are not necessarily true to the spirit of the religion. People have their own agendas, beliefs, histories, and prejudices that they bring into their religious interpretations. I do believe it takes a grave misunderstanding of Islam, or any religion for that matter, to precipitate violence such as in this story.