There is a reason, after all, why we must now confront Muslim, rather than Jain terrorists, in every corner of the world. Jains do not believe anything that is remotely likely to inspire them to commit acts of suicidal violence against unbelievers. By any measure of normativ- ity we might wish to adopt (ethical, practical, epistemological, eco- nomic, etc.), there are good beliefs and there are bad onesand it should now be obvious to everyone that Muslims have more than their fair share of the latter.1 Of course, like every religion, Islam has had its moments. Mus- lim scholars invented algebra, translated the writings of Plato and Aristotle, and made important contributions to a variety of nascent sciences at a time when European Christians were luxuriating in the most abysmal ignorance. It was only through the Muslim conquest of Spain that classical Greek texts found their way into Latin trans- lation and seeded the Renaissance in western Europe. Thousands of pages could be written cataloging facts of this sort for every religion, but to what end?
