I was discussing this with a friend after the article in which Billy Graham's son said Islam was wholly evil.
Personally, I don’t think any moderately successful religion can be either wholly evil or wholly good. A wholly good religion, lacking threats & punishments, would lose the power of control, which is after all the main point of religion. A wholly evil religion would never have enough followers to make it work. You can’t be actively working to spread evil ALL the time & still take care of the necessary mundanities of life. Even KKK wives have to stand in the grocery store deciding which version of Tide will get their sheets the whitest.
Hypothetically it seems it would be possible for a religion to teach only kindness, compassion, inward searching, to be a practice which leads its followers to ever higher plains of consciousness & joy, but human nature being what it is, I think just getting power as a leader would inevitably corrupt. I'm sorry I have to think that way. I know it's cynical but it's my instinct based on what I see of people in power.
Love to hear other thoughts on this.