An analysis into whether the Quran is more violent than the Bible
found killing and destruction occur more frequently in the Christian
texts than the Islamic.
Investigating
whether the Quran really is more violent than its Judeo-Christian
counterparts, software engineer Tom Anderson processed the text of the
Holy books to find which contained the most violence.
It took just two minutes for his software to read and analyse the three books.
In a blog post,
Mr Anderson explains: "The project was inspired by the ongoing public
debate around whether or not terrorism connected with Islamic
fundamentalism reflects something inherently and distinctly violent
about Islam compared to other major religions."
Using
text analytics software he had developed, named Odin Text, he analysed
both the New International Version of both the Old and New Testaments as
well as an English-language version of the Quran from 1957.
By categorizing words into eight emotions - Joy, Anticipation, Anger,
Disgust, Sadness, Surprise, Fear/Anxiety and Trust - the analysis found
the Bible scored higher for anger and much lower for trust than
the Quran.
Further analysis found the Old Testament was more violent than the New Testament, and more than twice as violent as the Quran.
However, he adds: "First, I want to make very clear that we have not
set out to prove or disprove that Islam is more violent than other
religions.
"Moreover, we realize that the Old and New Testaments and the Quran
are neither the only literature in Islam, Christianity and Judaism, nor
do they constitute the sum of these religions’ teachings and protocols.
"I must also reemphasize that this analysis is superficial and the
findings are by no means intended to be conclusive. Ours is a 30,000-ft,
cursory view of three texts: the Quran and the Old and New testament.
Note EU-Digest: the original headline of this article in the
Independent is misleading and so is the study, specifically when it
comes to the focus on violence,
Case in point: has the bible ever inspired Christians to strap
explosives to teenagers and have them walk into crowded market places
and detonate themselves, causing their own death, and many other
casualties, or inspired Christians to drive trucks or other vehicles
into public gatherings and kill as many people as possible shouting
"Jesus is great" ?
On the other hand, one must also admit that in times of war,
Christian nations military forces have killed millions of innocent
civilians, afterwards calling the people killed by their indiscriminate
bombings, "collateral damage".
Maybe the conclusion is that evil things happen when people start
interpreting religious scripture to fit their needsm and not the other
way around?
Read more: 'Violence more common' in Bible than Quran, text analysis reveals | The Independent
