The other day I met a guy who has immigrated to New Zealand from Iran. Obviously he is a Muslim. He and I got chatting and the subject naturally migrated to ISIS and the USA, and other deep and disturbing world issues.  At one point in the conversation I referred to ISIS as ‘Muslim Extremists’, and he stopped me abruptly.  “ISIS are NOT Muslim”.  I paused, and he repeated “ISIS are NOT MUSLIM !”.  And suddenly I got it.

Don’t get me wrong.  I have never blamed Muslims as a whole for the atrocities of a few.  But at that moment I saw it in a new light.  This man, and millions of others like him, are followers of a faith that, like Christianity, advocates peace, goodwill, and general good behavior towards other human beings.  They follow their own ‘ good book’, similar in many ways to the Bible.  But then a group of people, intent on hatred and mayhem, and claiming to be driven by the Muslim faith, start creating appalling atrocities around the globe.  Their motives are the subject of a different topic that I’m not discussing here, but in short they have hijacked a religion, and used it’s name to justify evil.

So here’s the thing.  Let’s STOP referring to ISIS and other terrorists as ‘Muslim extremists’ or ‘Islamic terrorists’, and concentrate on their evil deeds rather than their very poor excuse for carrying out those deeds.  There will always be insane and evil people who justify their actions by blaming them on their religious beliefs.  In 2015 in Colorado, Robert Lewis justified killing three people by claiming that he was Christian, and that God asked him to do it. He was NOT a Christian, and I do not hate Christians and Christianity because of his actions.

As a devout atheist, I do believe in religious tolerance.  Let’s stop blaming the belief system, or the nationality, or any other larger grouping, and focus in on the individuals and groups that commit these atrocities.  “ISIS is NOT Muslim.”