I'm feeling like I might have misinterpreted your evolution stance. Sorry about that. You believe in evolution, but that we were created separately? Or just that we haven't quite figured out each step in our evolution?

Many would say that creationism is a tenet of Islam. The few Muslims I know do actually believe in that. And I'd never go so far as to say that all muslims are all barbaric in the same way I'd never say all priests are pedophiles. But there's a persistence to these issues.

I realize the Quran doesn't speak directly on evolution. It wasn't something yet discovered when the book was written.

I've heard that interpretation that the six days and six nights is only metaphorical. For me, it seems like a bit of a stretch but I appreciate that more and more people in religious circles are acknowledging some of these truths about the age of the earth and universe.

More often than that though, I still see religion used as an argument against the age of the earth and the universe. It's typically Christians I've spoken with who believe that the story of the 6 day creation and Adam & Eve are totally literal.

I only brought up Moses because it's another point at which science and religion diverge. It certainly has no bearing on this evolution/creation discussion.

Geocentrism is another issue which there's been some contention. From what I read I had been under the impression that the Islamic religion was also been rooted in the geocentrism belief, and that there was similar controversy there as what occurred between the church and Galileo.

I didn't say that evolution can be performed with mathematical accuracy. You're right there's still plenty we don't understand. But through punnet squares there are predictions that can be made with mathematical accuracy.

As far as the barbarism of some muslims, I don't think it's anything to be so easily excused. There are many people in the islamic world who would say flatly that your interpretation here is wrong, and that suicide bombing is just. I've spoken with a few of them myself. Of course any text can be interpreted in any way. Someone read the Catcher in the Rye and saw in it instructions to Kill John Lennon. But this isn't just an isolated incident. So many of the countries which establish their laws around the Islamic religion end up with these brutal, brutal regimes in place. It's large swaths of muslims who believe in these more brutal interpretations of the religion.

Is it your thought that your the Quran is the most perfect book in the history of the universe? Because to me, if it were, there's just no way so many would read it and believe in such violence. It isn't all religions that fall victim to these issues. The suicide bombing is an almost entirely unique to Islam problem. Why do you think it is that muslims interpret their scripture in this way? Why doesn't Jainism fall victim to this problem?

I was aware that the muslim world was once home to a lot of the world's greatest mathematicians, and the birth place of algebra. I think it's a stark contrast from where so many of these countries stand today, and that it's largely because of religious extremism.

I'd actually heard Sam Harris give that talk before. He's not talking about predestination, only the illusion of free will. Nothing there I disagree with.