You too! And I appreciate that.

So if you don't mind me asking, what exactly makes the Quran different from the Bible or Torah? I've certainly never read it from cover to cover, but I've read translations of passages. My thinking is that, like the Bible, there are parts with valuable metaphorical meaning, but that it's not really feasible people back then had a clearer understanding of the natural world than we do today. I think these books were just written by humans. And back then, we hadn't yet figured out the causes from rain and tides, so their pronouncements about the way things are and the morals we should center our lives around, I take them with a grain of salt. It's hard for me to imagine finding the book very philosophically persuasive.

What do you make of some of the Quran's more violent passages? Why in a book allegedly inspired by the most perfect entity that ever existed, are there mandates about lashings and stoning? I think it speaks very ill of the religion, too, just how many of its supporters believe in Jihad and think that suicide bombings are just. Islam has always been one of the religions I have a harder time with.

Thanks again for the reply and I'd love to hear your thoughts if you do get around to reading them!