Let's consider a few things about that statement.
- It may be true that Muslims (rather than Islam) are responsible for the majority of religiously motivated violence currently. However, much of that involves the deaths of fellow Muslims so you can't really class it as Islam v the rest.
- Had we been having this discussion 500 or 1,000 years ago, then we would have been talking about Christianity. The point has been made on here before that Islam is a relatively young religion that hasn't really come to terms with the world around it and the separation of church and state that Christianity experienced a few hundred years ago. It hasn't yet happened in the Middle East/Pakistan/Afghanistan & North Africa, although it's getting close in places like Malaysia & Indonesia and works reasonably well in Jordan, the UAE, Bahrain & Qatar.
- Even some Muslim groups aren't doing it because they're Muslim. It's because they have a political motive (Hamas, Hezbollah, Taliban, Al Qaeda) in a regions of the word where there is tremendous political instability and tend to be populated by Muslims. Relatively few groups (ISIS & Boko Haram principally) are doing it primarily for religious reasons.
It may be true that Muslims (rather than Islam) are responsible for the majority of religiously motivated violence currently. However, much of that involves the deaths of fellow Muslims so you can't really class it as Islam v the rest.
There's no 'may' about it mate, it's fact.
See for yourself, deaths by terrorism these year via Wikipedia:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents,_2015
Also, I never added a prefix that it was "Islam vs the rest", only that it was violence with a religious motivation. Of which Islam is responsible for the most deaths, this isn't disputable. And yes, most of those deaths will be Muslims killing other Muslims. Still a problem - no?
Had we been having this discussion 500 or 1,000 years ago, then we would have been talking about Christianity. The point has been made on here before that Islam is a relatively young religion that hasn't really come to terms with the world around it and the separation of church and state that Christianity experienced a few hundred years ago. It hasn't yet happened in the Middle East/Pakistan/Afghanistan & North Africa, although it's getting close in places like Malaysia & Indonesia and works reasonably well in Jordan, the UAE, Bahrain & Qatar.
True. But it's 2015AD. We're talking about the present. This all too often serves as a whataboutism for people to gloss over the reality of the scale of this religious violence in the present day. You're right to point out that the separation of church and state is something that was key to Christianity's moderation, but how far are we really from seeing that become more commonplace in the wider Middle East? Especially when this seems to be in direct opposition to many Muslims' beliefs that man made laws are unworthy when there is Sharia, God's law, as per the Koran?
This regression into deeply religious social conservatism is what seems to be culpable for a lot of the violence.
Even some Muslim groups aren't doing it because they're Muslim. It's because they have a political motive (Hamas, Hezbollah, Taliban, Al Qaeda) in a regions of the word where there is tremendous political instability and tend to be populated by Muslims. Relatively few groups (ISIS & Boko Haram principally) are doing it primarily for religious reasons.
No one is implying that the violence is taking place because Muslims are inherently violent. They're not being violent because they're Muslim.
The violence is often motivated by religious belief however, this is inescapable. Religion often goes hand in hand with a political goal. They often meet nicely to serve one another.
None of the groups you highlighted are secular groups, religion is central to their goal, it runs parallel to their political goal.
They're all divided along sectarian lines also. And thus their religious beliefs differ, and their political goals, this is no coincidence.