It is strange for me, who grew up Christian in a Western country but am now agnostic, to argue in favor of Islam. My intention was to say that we wouldn’t have many problems if all religion would be purely a private matter (private in the sense of not forcing faith on anyone, not even family members). It would be interesting to see how long backward ideologies and restrictive rules would last. I am tired of having to set the Old Testament and the Crusades and missionary work against the Koran.
Some passages in the Koran and the Bible sound completely unacceptable today and nobody should feel morally bound to them in this century.

I don’t want to trivialize the current events in the Philippines and France and maybe it’s the wrong moment to discuss religion on such tragedies. If someone uses violence to achieve their goals, they are a terrorist and shouldn’t have a place in society, regardless of whether they receive their inspiration from the right, left or above.

I am shocked by what feels like a renewed increase in such attacks, hence my comment. I don’t wanted to start whataboutism to defend them.