I have left the current poll running longer than usual (‘Have you read the Quran?’ see the sidebar) because I am especially interested in the answers people choose.

I am well aware that the vast majority of people who visit and read this website are nonbelievers. Therefore, asking a group of nonbelievers whether or not they have read the Quran for me helps get at another more underlying question. Namely, should nonbelievers take the time to read the holy books of other religions even though it seems pretty clear that there is no evidence to support their special claims?

Of those who have responded thus far, nearly hafl (48%) have indicated that not only have they not read the Quran they also never intend to read it at all. Less than a third (29%) have not read it but plan on reading it. Slightly less (17%) have read parts of it while only 6% have read all of it.

What this tells me is that among those who voted (and I of course have no idea how many of these people are atheists) there is a general consensus that reading the holy book of a religion that is not as familiar to Westerners as Christianity or Judaism isn’t of much interest.

So here I will do what I cannot do in a poll – ask for comments. If you are a non-Muslim (whether atheist or a subscriber to a different religion), do you see any value in spending time investigating the holy book and religious claims of other religions, like Islam?