ISLAM HAS A PROBLEM WITH IT'S DOGMA OF JIHAD...AND ITS EARLY "MILITANT" HISTORY OF CONQUEST...
I AM REFERRING TO THE ADVANCE OF ISLAM IN THE LATE 7TH CENTURY...WHEN IT TOOK DOWN THE BYZANTINES LIKE A STRAW MAN...
MUSLIMS...LIKE RUSSIANS AND OTHERS WHO WERE NOT PART OF THE CULTURAL TRADITION OF "ANCIENT ROME"...AND IT'S "CLASSICISM"...HAVE SUFFERED FROM A KIND OF ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT...
THE MUSLIMS WERE DEPRIVED OF A TRADITION OF CLASSICAL HUMANISM TO "RE-DISCOVER" AS EUROPEANS DID IN THE 11TH AND 12TH CENTURY... THIS RENASSIANCE LEAD ALMOST DIRECTLY TO THE "ENLIGHTENMENT"...OF THE 18TH CENTURY.
MUSLIMS STILL LIVE IN AN "AGE OF FAITH" THAT MOST OF THE WEST ABANDON 200 YEARS AGO...
BUT THIS IS NOT NECESSARILY BAD FOR ISLAM...
WESTERN SOCIETY HAD TO STRUGGLE WITH DEAD DOGMA OF "THE CHURCH" TO RECAPTURE IT'S CLASSICAL TRADITIONS...AND HUMANIST ENLIGHTENMENT...
BUT ISLAM CAN "SKIP" DIRECTLY TO MODERN DEMOCRATIC VALUES STRAIGHTAWAY...
WE SEE THIS IN THE YOUTH OF IRAN...APPARENTLY WANTING TO "BE MODERN"...AND SHED THE MEDEVIALISM OF FUNDAMENTALIST ISLAM...
WITH MORE HEARTS AND MINDS...AND CULTURAL EXCHANGES...AND LESS BOMBING...THE SO CALLED "GOOD MUSLIMS" CAN BE JUMP STARTED INTO WESTERN HUMANISM...QUICKLY...
OF COURSE THE PROBLEM IS THE IDIOTIC FUNDAMENTALISM THAT HAS INFECTED THE GEOPOLITICS OF THE MIDDLE EAST...
AND I MEAN ZIONIST FUNDAMENTALISM...CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALISM...
AND ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM...
THE ODD THING IS THAT THIS IS ALL SO SOLVABLE...
ONCE WE GET THE BARBARISM OF IRON AGE RELIGIOUS NONSENSE OUT OF IT...
SORRY...BUT ANYONE WHO BLOWS THEM SELF UP...THINKING THEY ARE "GOING TO HEAVEN"...IS NOT EVIL...JUST VERY, VERY MENTALLY DISTURBED ...OR, CONFUSED...!
WELCOME TO THE 21ST CENTURY...!
AND I MEAN.... IN ALABAMA... AND IN YEMEN...!
