Reformation Shmeformation

Submitted by Peter Herz (United States), May 22, 2008 at 07:38

I wish all these people talking about a "Reformation" in Islam would stop. Islam is Islam, and Christianity is Christianity. The two religions are not completely comparable, and the trajectories on which they set the civilizations based on them are different.

The Reformed (Calvinist) churches did much to bring about consensual and constitutional government in the North Atlantic world--but that was because of their intense biblicism, not despite it. Both the Reformed and the Lutheran churches did much to spread popular education, but, once again, it was because biblicists want people to read the Bible. Further, there's a big difference in outlook and practice between people who believe that we're basically good and people who say that we're so evil we need pure divine grace to save us. When things go bad, the former say "Who did this to us?" while the latter say "Where did we go wrong?"

Unfortunately, don't bet the farm that modern American media, government, and academic elites will "get it".

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