Andy, we’ve been over this ground before, but I still think it’s worth making this point again. You are quite right that (a) there are some horrifying verses in the Koran, and that (b) they are too often passed over or excused (most notably by people such as Karen Armstrong, in my view one of the more disreputable apologists for religious fanaticism to come scurrying into view in recent years) by commentators who should, and often do, know better. Nevertheless, it’s worth remembering that there’s plenty of savagery to be found in the Old Testament too. What really matters is not what was said or written back in the Dark Ages (or, in the case of the Bible, even earlier), but how those words are interpreted now, if, indeed, at all.