The Fruits of Religion

In Libya, an Islamic salafist militia has kidnapped and published its intention to torture and execute a group of gay men for no reason other than existing. This is the fruit of religion, historically (especially for gay people): terror, persecution, oppression, imprisonment, torture, castration, and execution (have I left anything out?). The historically christian world has, by and large, moderated its more egregious offenses (except in Africa, see here, here, and here), mainly because of the intervening Enlightenment era, where reason took charge and the church was brought to heal. No such luck in the Muslim world where gays are actively hunted down and imprisoned or executed in the name of religion. As I pointed out, however, Christians needn't be smug: their religion is still the mainspring of homophobia in the West. How can reasonable people still regard these ancient superstitions with anything but contempt?