Re: some disagreement

Goethe,

While there is certainly some discomfort with some tenets of Islam in Western cultures, that is a far cry from despising Islam, and even further removed from despising Muslims.

For example, I dislike strongly Islamic regimes . . . but I'm also quite glad that strongly Christian regimes are largely a thing of the past. Luther, Calvin, and of course the Popes were not people I would want to live under. Please don't mistake an objection to theocratic regimes with an objection to a specific religion.

At the same time, many posters here have repeatedly noted some of the good things about Islam and various cultures in Islamic countries, so please don't forget that.

Also, when I speak about modernity I am talking about things like the scientific method, freedom of conscience, and adaptations to modern technology. I am not merely talking about having the latest luxury goods from famous brand names. In fact, I have found that the surest sign of a backwards country is a prominent mall filled with luxury shops, but nothing mid-range. Nor am I talking about simply adopting the latest intellectual fads - such shallowness is another sign of a backwards country.

That said, you raise a good point about the dangers of non-western nations adopting superficially modern ideas. This has already happened, in fact, when many poor nations adopted Socialism from Europe, not realizing that Socialism could only ever begin to work in nations that were already rich, and even then such experiments were not able to last long. This mistake set India back at least 30 years.

That said, some modern ideas have stood the test of time - ideas like the scientific method, freedom of conscience, the value of free markets, and so forth. There are many people in countries with various degrees of Islamist theocracy who desperately want these things while maintaining their cultural identity - and I support them in their endeavors and wish them the best of luck in adapting these ideas to their own cultural traditions. What is more, I expect that their traditions may have many ideas that can flow the other direction and influence world culture for the better, as in fact has already happened before, with such innovations as algebra, which was something of a necessary precondition for technological progress.

In short, cultural exchanges can usually go both ways and offer much of value to both parties involved, and this is certainly the case with such a large population with such a rich history as is present in the Middle East. Even so, it is necessary for Islamic cultures to cope with modernity, one way or another, and this cannot be easily ignored.