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I'm happy whenever I can add a juicy news headline to Signs of the End, an uplifting list heralding the waning of religion's power.

Sadly, the major religion most successfully bucking this trend is the one that also strives to best its fellow faiths in sheer obnoxiousness: Islam.

How and why Islam would spread among Europeans, who in recent years have made such outstanding advances in kicking Christianity to the curb, is a true mystery to me. What possible attraction does this woman-hating, obedience-demanding, free speech-suppressing, science-killing "faith" hold for the people of modern, affluent societies? Well, here's the word from one European celebrity, actor Liam Neeson, casting a favorable eye upon the teachings of The Prophet:

The [Islamic] call to prayer happens five times a day, and for the first week, it drives you crazy, and then it just gets into your spirit, and it's the most beautiful, beautiful thing. There are 4,000 mosques in the city. Some are just stunning, and it really makes me think about becoming a Muslim.

There you have it: Islam is attractive because mosques and prayer are beautiful. The latter part of which, I agree, is true. Mosques (and churches and temples) can be gorgeous. And while prayer rituals don't hold an equal appeal for me, I don't deny that they tap into powerful human emotions.

I certainly won't assume that a publication's short quote represents Neeson's full reasons for hankering after Islam. He may have deeper reasons, and that's his own business. (The same goes for hundreds of thousands of other Europeans convering to Islam; see the linked article for some sobering numbers.) I only wonder, though, whether Neeson's and many converts' considerations include the following: Is Islam true?

Yes, mosques and the prayer ritual have beauty. Yes, some aspects of the Muslim faith may be commendable, such as alms for the poor and other aspects of community (and here I'll bite my tongue over other, decidedly deplorable aspects). But does that make Islam's claims about a supernatural God, and that God's chosen Prophet, factually correct?

I wonder how many of the converts, understandably impressed by the artistry of mosques, really deep-down care whether the claims of their new faith are true. The same goes for other religions too, of course, and for lifelong adherents as well as new converts. While few of the religious will outright admit it, many people choose their beliefs for reasons such as comfort or community alone, and genuinely don't care whether the beliefs are true. 

As a rationalist and atheist, that perspective has become so alien to me I sometimes lose sight of it. The words of converts and potential converts, like Neeson's quote above, provide a reminder that truth isn't necessarily the primary consideration of believers – or even one at all.