Itās hard to know where to start with the idiocy posted here. If you were to ignore the endless pogroms by Christians against pretty much every other religion that wandered into their sphere (especially Jews), along with the internal fighting between the Catholics, protestants, and orthodox, I suppose you could say that theyāre ātolerantā of others and live together in āpeaceā.
Similar stories of ātoleranceā can be told of Hindus and Buddhists, along with most religions when they mix. When God tells you that youāre the chosen ones and the others are apostates, it doesnāt matter who you are or what you believe, friction resultsā¦itās true even today in the US.
But tolerance has existed, and Islam is not an fringe player.
In fact, for most of its history, it was Islam that had the reputation for inclusion, not the Christians.
Christianity has neutered itself with the opiate of prosperity, which Sam Harris acknowledges in his book. Islam has political and economic strife, so the religious antagonism comes to fore. (Those with no chance for a prosperous āthis lifeā, and nothing to lose, can become the apocalyptic warriors of tomorrow)
And you just conveniently fail to mention Indonesia, which is the largest Islamic country in the world. It is currently on a good run of democratically elected secular governments and doesnāt have a serious problem with terrorism when compared with nearby India.
With all of that said, I agree with Sam Harris on one point. 99.999% of all religious people may be good, moral, and tolerant, with only the best of intentions. But on a planet of 7 billion, that still leaves 70000 fundamentalist nutcases willing to blow up the entire works to gain āreward in heavenā. As our numbers and technological might increase, the chances one of those nutcases will kill us all in some religious stupor goes up as well.
