Because many people say a lot about how all religions (in particular Christianity and Islam) are the same, we should all be reminded of the following:

Islam was GENERALLY spread by the sword. [1] Christianity was not. Although there were instances where Christianity tried to expand through Violence (I am referring in some cases of missionaries and not in the Crusades which were a case of war), these cases have not been universal, had an overall positive effect (see article “The positive effect of Missionaries“) [2] and can in no way collectively mark the whole history of Christianity. Christianity first spread amid wild persecution and survived. It became the basic religion in Europe not because Christians slaughtered all “unfaithful” (the only way with which Islam expands, but also a major method of promoting atheism – see Siberia) but because the new doctrine was preferred by most people because of its quality and its chaotic difference from the then prevailing religious worldview. There were, of course, persecutions conducted by self-acclaimed Christians (remember that Christ denounced all violence and even taught love towards our enemies), but these happened after Christianity had already become a serious foothold in the world, were more political than religious and happened in an effort of the new secular power to establish itself (and not as a tool with which the new religion was established). The holy book of muslims calld for direct attacks to “unfaithful” people, while Christianity teaches love. And no, the Old Testament does not call for violence between people, it simply states the simple fact that your actions have consequences – which will come from God and not from another fellow man! (see also here for an analysis of ‘difficult” – for lazy people – parts of the Old Testament) As much as Atheists believe all Christians are equally bad to Muslims, one cannot fail to see that Christianity in the West has evolved to such an extent that now we have come to tolerate magazines like Charlie which curse/ insult God in the most brutal (and tasteless) way they can, while respectively muslims could be decapitating people in the public square because they have… blogs. Let us not forget that the movement of Humanism and the Renaissance were born and grown in a Christian Europe. [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15] Without Christianity, we would not have hospitals (helping those in need is not consistent with the theory of evolution) or human rights. Not to mention science, which was based for hundreds of years into the belief that we can read the mind of our Creator. And last but not least,

Just wanted to note these things. Not in order to change the minds of militant atheists (they do not change no matter what you tell them) but for anyone who thinks and reads in good faith.

Food for though.

Only for those who are hungry…