Throughout history, Islam is the most violent religion

Thank you, npetero, for this debate. I hope to learn much about religious violence. Points: [1] Muslim terrorists use their religion as an excuse to gain power [2] Many wars have been fought over religion [3] The majority of Muslims are generally non-violent people. [1] Let's face it: everyone likes power. Islamic terrorists use their religion as an excuse to terrorize people who don"t submit to their rule and/or ideology. They follow the Quran to an extreme level. Here is a quote from the Quran: "Fight them until there is no more [people not worshipping God] and worship is for God alone." Muslim terrorists, when conducting terror attacks, use passages like this as an excuse to commit terror attacks. The terrorists force their victims to submit to their power, or agree with their radical views. The punishment for not submitting to them could be death, or some other undesirable fate. A lot of times, terrorism can be profitable (i.e., ransoming hostages). A large portion of the Middle East (where people are mostly Muslim) is impoverished. Poor men can become terrorists to get money, they could then support their families. Islamic terrorists often come from volatile/violent regions of the world, where they would like to gain fame/infamy, fortune, and "absolution from sins in the eyes of God." (passage into heaven, according to their belief) [2] Religion has always been a violent topic. Not just Islam, but all religions. Let"s take a look at some historic religious wars, where Muslims were not the aggressors: -The Crusades: Sanctioned by the Catholic church, at least 7 were fought against Islam. All for Christianity. According to this source, 1-3 million deaths occurred as a result of the crusades. Back in the Middle Ages, that was a pretty significant number of casualties (and it still is today) -The Buddhist uprising: In the 1960s in Vietnam, there was a Buddhist revolt that aimed to overthrow a Catholic government. -The Reconquista: Catholics targeted Muslims in Spain, and committed atrocious acts against them, and expelling them form the Iberian peninsula. -The Huguenot Massacres: The Huguenots were Protestants living in a Catholic controlled France. The Catholic French killed tens of thousands of Huguenots. -Hindu-Christian conflicts in India: Since the age of Imperialism, Christians and Hindus have been fighting each other. The point to take away from this is all pretty much religion is violent. [3] There are 1.6 BILLION Muslims on Earth. That is roughly 22% of the Earth"s population. If Islam was a violent religion, then there would be a lot more violence in the name of Islam. Not just terror attacks. Terror WARS. ISIS would be in a much better position than they are now. It is estimated that they have 200,000 troops max. With 1.6 billion people supporting them, then they would probably have more than 200,000 troops! Terrorism is associated with Islam. If Islam (as a religion) truly did support terrorism violence, then there would be MILLIONS of terrorists, not just a couple hundred thousand. After all, there are 1.6 billion Muslims Therefore, Islam is not the most violent religion. I conclude by writing that terrorism can be seen as lucrative to impoverished Muslims, most religions encourage violence, and there are a lot of non-violent Muslims living on Earth. Back to you npetero