Before attempting to diagnose the problem with fundamentalist Islam, one should take notice of the fact that most Muslims are not Fundamentalist and would find alien the rantings of zealots. Their daily lives do no confirm the idea of a faith that is instrinsically anti-Western or antimodern. The most populous Muslim country, Indonesia, has had a secular government since its independence in 1949. After Indoneasia, the three largest Muslim populations in the world are in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, all of with have had mkuch experience with democracy and have elected women as prime minister.
The real problem lies not in the Muslim world but in the Middle East. In Iran, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, The West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Persian Gulf States, dictatorships pose in various stripes and liberal democracy appears far from reach. Islamic extremism in this region is rife. A large plurally are extreme in their devotion to the literal word of the Koran and the Hadith (the literature recounting the sayings and actions of the prophet), and this leads them to be extreme in the degree to which they believe that modernity and secular culture are incompatible with spiritual and moral health. They are certain that the export of Western culture are leading their wives and cdhildren away from God. They also consider unbelief to be a sin so grave that it merits death when it becomes an impediment to the spead of islam. The feelings are not redicible to “hatred” in an ordinary sense. Most Muslims have been to America or met an American. And they have fare fewer grievances with Western imperialism than is the norm around the globe. They suffer from a fear of contamination and they are consumed by feelings of “humiliation” – humiliation over the fact that while their civilization has foundered, they have watched a godless, sin-loving people become masters of everything they touch. They feel the outrage of a chosen people who have been subjugated by barbarians.
How the variants of Islam turned out so different is the subject of another post. Maybe someone can contribute.
Too many people generalize these days. They see too many extremists in the media and not enough of the moderates. And from that comes stereotyping and postulation.
Oh my goodness, I don’t know where to start. While Christian Europe was in the dark ages, Islam had a far suprior organization, and maintianed a suprior, literate civilization. While Christians ignored astronomy, math and the medical information, Arabs went on to collect ancient writings and advanced all areas of study.
Right now we think of Iran as being Muslim, but they are Persians and hated Arabs. The leaders of Iran and Iraq meeting with consideration of joining forces against the US is alarming.
The original post is all mixed up, mixing religion with poltics, and appears to be devoid of history. It is also lacking in Christian history, and the memory of Christian repression of science and taboos against usury that made capitalism impossible. Calvinism changed the Christian position on money, but the subject of religion and economics really over loads this thread. I think things need to be broken down to have comprehensive discussion.
If we just focus on family morality and the conflict between religious and secular interest, Christians and Muslims share much in common. Christians have been an extreme hinderance to the understanding of democracy, and still stand in the way of science. On the other hand, in the US, the Christian acceptence of usury, alcohol and the break down of the family, should be a concern to Muslim people.
If you read my post again you’ll notice it’s in two parts. One part acknowledge that the majority of Muslims are a progressive, peaceful people, free of the taint that Arab zealots have visited on the religion in general. The second part tries to analyze the roots of Islamic fundamentalism as practiced in the Arab world. And the mixing of religion and politics is no accident when you’re dealing with a part of the world where even token secular regimes are subservient to theocratic elders, or clerical law. It’s true that the Islamic world was once the beacon of learning. Today, a large part of it is backward. Something is the matter and the resistance to modernization, coupling modernization with a sinful culture is my offer at an insight to the problem. You can disagree with it, but don’t say I’m confused. Reread what at first confounds you
I’m no expert in, nor was I posting on, comparative religion. MY post my motivated by the fact that certain members of the religion whose fundamentalist variant you defend, staged an act of mass carnage against members of my civilization six years ago for no reason but to stage a devastating act of theatre. At least this is my explanation at the rationale behind the bombings. I don’t know why you’re raising the sins of christianity. If I had my way, religion in all its guizes would disappear from the face of the world. Creationists trying to teach fiction alongside evolution in science class are criminal to my way of thinking. But at the moment, the worst danger at loose in the world is fundamentalist Islam. That leaves the vast majority of Muslims free of criticism.