Pipes vs Vlahos

Submitted by Larry (United States), Jul 30, 2002 at 14:17

Dr. Pipes,

You and another thinker on Islam who I respect, Michael Vlahos, would seem to disagree on the reformability of Islam. Mr. Vlahos, whom I have come to know through his appearances on the John Batcherlor and Paul Alexander show, has stated many times that in his opinion, Islam is not reformable, that it has shown no history of moderation and evolution. Indeed, Mr. Vlahos stated just this past Saturday (7/27) that people thinking that Islam will become like the Baptist Church or the Lutheran Church will be sorely disappointed. That Islam has not shown either an ability or a desire to adapt to the modern world as have Christianity and Buddhism.

If there IS a moderate Islam, an equivalent to the National Council of Churches (liberal mainline Protestantism) or Reform Judaism, its spokespeople have been extremely silent.

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