“Ever since the Crusades, when Christians from western Europe were fighting holy wars against Muslims in the near east, western people have often perceived Islam as a violent and intolerant faith - even though when this prejudice took root Islam had a better record of tolerance than Christianity.”

British author and commentator on religion, born 1944

Karen Armstrong is a British author and commentator on religion. Born in 1944, she is known for her books on comparative religion and for writing from the standpoint of a former Catholic religious sister. She studied English at St Anne's College, Oxford, while still in the convent, and left religious life in 1969. Her work returns often to what the major faiths share, especially compassion and the Golden Rule, and to the movement in her own Christian life from a conservative beginning toward a more liberal and mystical outlook.