Time is not on our side?

Submitted by Rajeev (United States), Jan 7, 2011 at 02:35

Dear Dr Pipes, Joe Six-pack's fears may be true: in the war against fundamentalist Islam, we might be running out of time. But on the other hand, we may not be able to fully know and measure the pressure that fundamentalist Islam might be currently under. In the age of mass communication, of hand-held Internet, of YouTube, and of sites like yours, it is going to be more and more difficult for draconian regimes and forces to hide the inherent hypocrisy of Islam from its followers. Thirty years ago Islamic Republic of Iran fought a fratricidal war against Socialist Islamic Republic of Iraq. In that war kids were used as soldiers. Can a war like that be fought today? Perhaps yes, but it will certainly be more difficult to recruit boy soldiers today than it was 30 years ago.

A large number of Islamic doctrines that fundamentalists are trying so desperately to defend (such as the laws of Sharia, blasphemy, and Islamic finance) are unsustainable in today's world. Just like a capitalist system thrives inside Chinese communism, it is very possible that we will see an unislamic system thriving behind a namesake Islamic veil.

A human generation passes in 30 years. A tiny fraction of a human generation passes with each passing moment. The fear that a despotic regime like the one in Iran will cause substantial harm to our civilization is valid but so is the hope that fundamentalism will collapse under its own weight faster than what can be currently imagined.

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