Why do Atheists defend Islam?

[Mister Agenda]

South American Catholics are pretty homogenous compared to Shia, Sunnis, Sufis, Ahmadis, and Ismailis. Muslims are generally not running around killing people who agree with them either. DAESH ideology is so different from the typical Sunni's that it ought to be counted as a separate sect.

To pretend the European wars of religion (1524-1648) had absolutely nothing to do with the fundamental nature/culture of Christianity is just dishonest.

You kind of have to take them both or take neither, but you don't get to pick one or the other. If over a hundred years of bloody war between different Christian sects doesn't speak to the fundamental nature/culture of Christianity, the mere fact that the Islamist troubles are more current does not make them more relevant if the topic is fundamental nature/culture.

This argument would only kind of make sense if 100% of people in South America are Catholic. Then you could say "Of course Catholics in South America are not killing anyone - they're all the same religion!" I can assure you, the fact that there is no denomination amongst Catholics is not the reason why there is no "Catholic Isisi", if you will. 65% of people in Brazil are Catholic. The rest are protestants, Mormons, Jews, atheists, etc etc.  

I get that Christianity, which has been around for over 2000 years, has gone through its dark times. But they were just that - times. Every group has had its bad times with very bad people, including American history. It's only normal. But its the extent of how much it happens within Islam that causes pause. Christianity hasn't been non stop bloodshed and fighting since Jesus till now a days, like it is with Islam. Islam has existed for 1400 years. Since Mohammed himself until now, it's been violent.    

I don't have anything against Muslim people, let me make that perfectly clear. But I do think it's foolish to pretend that Islam, as an ideology, is not extremely problematic and a big part of the reason why there is so much violence amongst its members. I'm not saying good Muslim people should stop being Muslim, either. I just think Islam needs a major reform so that we can get to the point where we don't have all the non stop bloodshed anymore.

Maybe another ingredient is needed to make the comparison between South America and the Middle East and North Africa more congruent. Maybe if the Western Powers treated South America like their private sandbox full of oil wells, deposed governments at will, and financially and militarily supported the country that encouraged the most fundamentalist version of Catholicism throughout the region, Catholics might not be so peaceful. Or maybe if the West had killed 4 million South American Catholics since 1990.