re: #15 Eclectic Infidel

All that is true, but are Christians going bat guano crazy and murdering people TODAY for criticizing Christianity?

Nope. Because of the Enlightenment, and the values it forced on Christian cultures.

The fact that there are still Muslims who murder for the sake of their faith is proof positive of the need for more social evolution within Islam.

Sure. But Islam isn’t monolithic. There are plenty of Muslims alive now who are completely post-Enlightenment in their religious thinking, like most American Muslims.

It is not the religion, it is the culture in which the religion rests. There are still Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist fanatics in the world.

It is not the religion that reforms itself; society reforms the religion. Christianity did not significantly improve until the idea of individual rights was fought for and established.