Islam Missed Two Critical Events

Submitted by Lucas J. Meyer (United States), Aug 13, 2002 at 11:46

It seems to me that what's wrong with the Islamic world today is that it never went through the searing experience of the Reformation, and didn't participate in the Enlightenment, either. Questioning religious doctrine or societal norms isn't a generally good idea in Islamic societies. It wasn't in Christendom either, but after the Peace of Westfalia, things changed and have continued to improve.

Your citing recent reforms in Turkey as evidence of change in the Moslem world strikes me as being kind of nice, but irrelevant to the Arab world. Turkey, ever since Ataturk, has been an essentially secular society; while some Arab regimes today are certainly secular, the concept of separation of church and state doesn't exist in the Arab mind. Certainly not in our "ally" Saudi Arabia.

Your articles are wonderful. They are truth and light. Keep 'em coming!

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