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Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all spring from Abraham. I will grant that terrorists do not worship the same God, but Muslims can be very good people. I know some that are actually better people than some individuals who call themselves Christians.

The fact that you can find good people and bad people in any large group is a banal tautology.

What's important is: what does the doctrine of a particular group do to promote good behavior or bad behavior?

You are aware of the practice of "honor killings", aren't you? In which women are murdered to remove the stain of dishonor that was placed on them when they were raped. In other words, in many Islamic cultures --- most strongly in the center of Islam, Saudi Arabia --- the penalty for being raped is death.

Try rolling those words off your tongue once or twice to get the feel of them, the flavor of them, the force of them: The penalty for being raped is death.

Have you been raped? Then you are guilty of a capital crime for which there can only be one penalty: death.

This thinking is not an aberration in the Islamic world, but part of its core ideology.

Bill Mayer admits to hating all religions. But he goes on to say that, "there's something particulary odious about a religion that puts women in bee-keeper suits".

And I would add: Something particularly evil about any system of thought that condemns the victim of rape to the penalty of death.

Sure, you can find good people here and there, but the religion of Islam is itself evil and pernicious.

"Sure, you can find good people here and there, but the religion of Islam is itself evil and pernicious."

My response is: It is not so much the religion itself, it is the religious leaders that are evil and pernicious. Organized religion is actually more a business than altruism. Of course, the religious leadears want to destroy the competition and frighten the people, so they will have more money in their own coffers.

Sorry that I am so cynical about organized religion, but history does not paint a nice picture of organized religion.

Some examples:

1. The Pharisees and Saducees during the biblical era.

2. Spanish Inquisition. There was a wholesale effort to torture and kill Jews and Muslims and others so their property could be confiscated and added to the coffers of the Church.

3. Salem Witch Trials. Religious leaders taking advantage of hysteria to further their own power.

4. Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. Profiting from whipping people up to milk them out of millions of dollars in donations.

5. Jesse Jackson (Jesse Jackoff). Race Baiting to further his own power.

6. The Clintons. Carrying a Bible to cover for his promiscuity and questionable ethics.

I am sure that in the eyes of God, it is the effort that people make to be better people is what counts.