Prominent atheist author Richard Dawkins took to social media on Monday to explain that while Islam continues to uphold antiquated, violent punishments and preach about world domination, Christianity and Judaism have distanced themselves from such "Middle Ages" teachings.
"Laws designed for 7th-Century tribal desert society are not always well suited to modern conditions. Jews & Christians mostly realise this," Dawkins wrote in a Twitter post.
"Yes, Christianity & Judaism are every bit as stupid as Islam. But they don't preach world domination, theocratically imposed law, stoning, etc.," he added in a follow-up post. "And yes, Christianity and Judaism USED TO preach equally terrible things. But we live NOW, not in the Middle Ages. That's kind of relevant."
Dawkins frequently addresses Islam on his social media pages; in the wake of France's deadly terror attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January, he took to Twitter to proclaim that "all religions are not equally violent."
"They shouted 'We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad,'" Dawkins wrote of the Islamic extremists who killed 17 people. "Some useful idiot will claim it had nothing to do with religion."
From there, he added, "No, all religions are NOT equally violent. Some have never been violent, some gave it up centuries ago. One religion conspicuously didn't."
"Of COURSE most Muslims are peaceful," he continued. "But if someone's killed for what they drew or said or wrote, you KNOW the religions of the killers."
Then, in October 2014, the 'Selfish Gene' author stated that 17-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai might leave her religion when she grows older.
"Of course Malala is religious now but give her time, she's only 17 & getting the education she fought for on behalf of girls like her," he tweeted at the time.
Another popular atheist, comedian Patton Oswalt of "King of Queens" fame, previously slammed Dawkins for his repeated criticisms of Islam, arguing that all religions must work together for the common good.
"I feel, as an atheist, about people like Richard Dawkins...the way that Christians must feel about Fred Phelps," he told Salon back in March.
"If you look at Christianity and Judaism when they were young, they were violent. ... But right now I would say there's a bigger percentage of that in Islam, but still that percentage is still small. Again, he] is discounting all of the moderate, progressive, intelligent, horrified Muslims."
"There's always going to be Christians, always going to be Jews, Hindus, Muslims, so let's find a way to make all that progress."
Last month, Block Bot, a program that hides people on Twitter deemed to be offensive or abusive, placed Dawkins on its list for his repeated 'racist' comments.
At the time, the 'Selfish Gene' author explained that while he doesn't object to being blocked, he takes offense at being 'libelled.'
"I have no objection to being blocked. Please block me if you wish. What I object to is being libelled, and linked with spammers and harassers," Dawkins said in response.
"People are confusing the act of blocking, with libelling those blocked. Blocking is fine. Block me and I won't miss you. Libelling is not," he added.
