Atheism as a teacher

[Minimalist]

I get what you are trying to achieve with your point, but none of the passages you quoted say anything about killing innocent people in the name of Allah, rather most of them appear to be about what Allah will do to non-believers after they die.

Well, allah.... like most gods...seems to be fairly inept when it comes to the action department so his followers have to chip in to supply the muscle.  When you think that god talks to you any sort of crime is possible and justifiable.

[Reforged]

The problem is, you are being an ass and not realizing it.

The vast majority of Muslims are not violent. These Muslims claim to follow Islam. Whether they follow Islam to the letter or not is irrelevant; hardly any religious person follows their religion literally.

So when you blame Islam for the actions of ISIS, regular Muslims are going to take offense, and rightly so, because to them, Islam does not teach the kind of things that ISIS is doing. That should be obvious to you based on the fact that most Muslims are not violent; there is clearly something else at work, and that is fundamentalism, fanaticism, and extremism. If you want to blame something, blame those things. They have the power to corrupt any religion, any belief system, not just Islam.

Honestly, there's not a very good analogy for atheists, because we don't have religious beliefs, but try this one. It's like when people blame atheists for the atrocities that Mao committed, because Mao's policies were atheistic and anti-religious. Of course, nothing in atheism states that we should ban religion or arrest religious people. Rather, it's the extremism of Mao that caused those events.

Now imagine your atheist beliefs are so important to you, you live your life by them, make decisions based on them, etc. You too would get offended and upset if someone told you that atheism was to blame for the killing of hundreds of people.

Hm, alot of surveys I've seen indicate worrying opinions in that community that wouldn't exactly oppose ISIS actions.
I'm not saying the majority are supporters but I would argue they're not exactly opposing either. The responsibility falls down to them to make sure their religion does not become something deadly. One such way would be to write new things into the Koran to offer some choice in interpretation at least but that will not happen because part of the belief is that this is the inexorable word of Allah. 
Its a catch 22. The beliefs encourage violence, in order for them not to they need to be updated but the Koran says that anyone who attempts to should be responded to with... violence. At some point the community is going to have to rise to the occasion and take the responsibility of making that change. Real change. Right now thats not happening and its alittle gross that we're still being fed this "Don't hurt my feelings by questioning my beliefs" bullshit.
Almost every other religion has at some point recognized the need for positive change... then immediately explained away or buried the change ever having taken place so their book is still the everlasting word of the creator. Time for them to grow up and embrace cynicism for afew weeks or however long it takes for them to "discover" new passages.

[audiogel]

The other thing that bugs me is: why is it assumed that isis' interpretation of the Koran is deemed the wrong one, whilst the average muslim's interpretation is deemed correct simply because it's moral and "peaceful"?
Maybe the Isis interpretation is the correct one?

[Minimalist]

Much like the bible there is enough horseshit in the koran so that anyone can find whatever they like.

[Whateverist]

So when you blame Islam for the actions of ISIS, regular Muslims are going to take offense, and rightly so, because to them, Islam does not teach the kind of things that ISIS is doing. That should be obvious to you based on the fact that most Muslims are not violent; there is clearly something else at work, and that is fundamentalism, fanaticism, and extremism. If you want to blame something, blame those things. They have the power to corrupt any religion, any belief system, not just Islam.

I agree entirely but I still have trouble with Islam and Muslims.  While it is true that it is your items I bolded which are the real problem, it just seems to me that when Muslims slide into fundamentalism they are more dangerous than Christians and those of other religions.  Of course you get the occasional xtian doctor shooting an abortion provider but Muslims seem to react more violently with less provocation.  I'm conflicted and still processing it all but I can't brush aside my distrust of Islam so easily.

[robvalue]

The other thing that bugs me is: why is it assumed that isis' interpretation of the Koran is deemed the wrong one, whilst the average muslim's interpretation is deemed correct simply because it's moral and "peaceful"?
Maybe the Isis interpretation is the correct one?

Moderate Muslim: "The Quran is the word of God. Every word. You should live your life according to what it says."

ISIS member: "OK, will do."

ISIS simply don't edit the book before applying the same principle as moderates (or at least edit it a whole lot less).

You're right, no interpretation is correct, because there is no standard by which to test any particular one. You can either read it literally, or interpret it yourself. If you interpret it, everything is fair game. You only have to justify it to yourself. Assuming that the correct interpretation must be peaceful is just arbitrary. You may as well say the correct interpretation must be angry, or confused. The book appears anything but peaceful to me.

You know, if I wrote a book, and then watched as people started killing each other over their "interpretation" of the book, I'd be very quick to let them know they were reading it wrongly. Unless of course I actually didn't mind them killing each other, or that was actually the purpose of the book, or I didn't exist and someone else wrote it.