an old brave new world

Submitted by the Grand Infidel of Kaffiristan (Australia), May 19, 2010 at 06:29

"....But by doing so, it allies itself more with Saudi Arabia and Iran than with Europe and the US. And any Jewish person who supports Israel as a Jewish state needs to swallow that. ..."

I for one disagree wirth that statement. Most Westerners would agree that Israel will remain in their perception a Western country, despite its location, whether they callthemselves jewish or not
"....Declaring an official religion and keeping national icons like the flag and anthem religion-specific almost certainly makes those in the minority religion less engaged and less patriotic. "

I guess a case in point is your own Indian flag - with its ashoka chakra very evident at its centre.

"...When the current power dynamics have ebbed, 100-200 years from now, there will be no Israel as a Jewish state in the Levant. The Internet, new intelligent technologies and resulting global education will de-Balkanize us to a dizzying degree, harmonizing different narratives. There'll be a secular "one-state" to which people of all parts of the world can travel to, live in, work in. Could be as soon as 2100. It'll be EU-nified. The resonance of the holy sites will be almost as weak as the religious import of the pyramids to tourists as the world becomes more secular..."

While it's always nice t fantasise about the future, none of us can actually see into it. If present trends continue, it's hard to see the above t, perhaps a little sterile sounding, echno utopia coming into existence. Still, it's nice to dream.

I'd be happy to just settle for a world where Islam was recognised for what it is.

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