Thread: AMAZING Woman!
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Old 06-20-2007, 10:00 PM   #25 (permalink)
Keith
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Australia
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One thing she said that I suspect is spot on is that this is not a clash of cultures, it's a clash of eras. IMO, it's not an accident that the countries that still have a largely mediaeval way of life are the ones producing 'Radical Islamists' whereas muslims in the West are more 'progressive'. There are exceptions of course, just as there are still Christians with 'radical' (fundamentalist) beliefs in the West.

Christianity was 'radical' in pre-Renaissance Europe. The Bible contains many passages that can be taken as incitement to cruelty and barbarism. But the modern Christian has come to realise that those passages are context-dependent - they were written for the people of a particular time and are no longer literally applicable. Christianity in the West still hasn't entirely crawled out of this shadow, but it's moving in the right direction(unfortunately the current leadership of the US is walking back into the shadow, IMO).

Similarly, I'm sure the Qu'ran has some passages that are incitement to barbarity. Muslims in more modern countries recognise these as context-dependent. Many Muslims in the more 'mediaeval' countries do not.

Like she said: It is not a clash of cultures, it is a clash of eras - a clash between a mentality that belongs in the 21st century and one that belongs in the 16th. And there are proponents of the archaic mentality on both on both sides of this conflict.
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