Islam is a religion of peace.

First and foremost, I am an Atheist and I do not agree with the preaching"s of any religion. I am a great admirer of such atheist "activists" as Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens. I think that aspects of organised religion are detrimental to the progress of our species and the sooner we move away from them in society, the better quite frankly. Taking this into account, it may seem like a strange position for me to take when I come here to defend Islam as a peaceful religion. I do so because coming from an unbiased standpoint is vital for this debate to be had in any serious way. A follower of Islam defending its peaceful preaching"s would be naturally obligated to try and defend aspects which are not deserving of it. I find religion to be fascinating in the way that it is a representation of our earliest efforts to grapple with the unknown and our origins. I have done research as a hobby of sorts into what different religions try to convey with their teachings and preaching"s. I wish to bring to an end the singling out of individual religions as peaceful or non-peaceful as there is no such religion. Statement If you were to randomly select any religion, and were able to examine its followers you would find that people from all ends of the "morality spectrum" are attracted and the religion in question is no reflection of this. Christianity attracts good and bad, Islam attracts good and bad, Buddhism attracts good and bad. How this can be related to the argument at hand is this; All religions have elements of peace and hate. It is entirely down to the individual who practices it, depending on their views and morality that decides whether it is a peaceful religion or not. The general public are only so concerned about the teachings of Islam now because of sensationalist and prejudice media cover of recent events. Rewind 1000 years to a time when Christianity set about on a conquest to convert non-believers which resulted in the death of tens of thousands of peaceful citizens. Was this reason enough to question the morals of people practicing Christianity and whether a "peaceful religion" was justified in these acts. It is worth noticing that the crusades weren"t carried out by a group of fanatics. This callas military endeavour was sanctioned by the pope of the time, the church and by representatives of the religion. Should we not also be questioning the peacefulness of such religions? Analysing holy books is a tricky job and can easily lead to misinterpretation based on the information you chose to include in your argument. It is far too easy to pick passages from any piece of literature in order to agree with your argument if you are biasedly selective. People often cherry-pick the Quran and come out with passages of hate and war, when you could easily do the same to show a religion of peace and love. I include a few purely as an example; "The reward of goodness is nothing but goodness. "(Al Quran 55:61) An example of teaching the benefits of carrying out good acts. "Those who spend in prosperity and adversity, and those who suppress anger and pardon men; and Allah loves those who do good. " (Al Quran 3:135) An example of teaching against the use of anger and the use of forgivingness "A guidance and a mercy for those who do good. " (Al Quran 31:4) More reaching of the benefits of doing good. I could include many more examples but I don"t want to make this point too long winded. Anyone not familiar with the Quran can do a quick google search on the teachings of good within it. I would like to end by reminding you that Religions are not Good or Evil. Religions are not peaceful or unpeaceful. These are attributes that can only be carried by people. People are Good or Evil. People are peaceful or unpeaceful and it is them who decides upon what a religion represents. Don"t try to pigeon hole a religion that is practiced peacefully by some 1.7 billion people on this planet.