(February 7, 2011 at 6:55 pm)padraic Wrote: Of course not. That's just how it often seems to non believers as we watch different sets of superstitions fighting for dominance.
I see your point here, but, also remember that religions can dominate in both violent and non-violent ways.
For Islam, I would say that the latter is a lot more frequent and a powerful method than the former. Most people convert to Islam after learning about the history of Islam, or by reading the Quran, or by learning about the life of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), or by listening to a lecture, etc. I don't think that fighting and killing has done that much of a job for converting people to Islam. So, the peaceful side of Islam is much greater than it's violent side when it comes to the spread of the religion over the years.