[lit-ideas] Re: The de-islamization of Europe
- From: "Andreas Ramos" <andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 11:27:35 -0800
Islam, the way it has been defined by a majority of Muslims, rejects modern
society and Liberal Democracy. Christianity gave rise to modern society and
Liberal Democracy.
Wow. The Pope in Rome came up with rationalism and liberal democracy?
Nobody could possibly say that Christianity encouraged modern society or liberal democracy.
The Catholic Church fought tooth and nail against these atheist ideas: thousands were burnt
at the stake; tens of thousands of intellectuals were censored or lived in self-censorship.
Look at the USA today: the most fervent opponents of rationalism and liberal democracy are
the Christians. Christian leaders insist their bible has superior power over the US
government and the US Constitution. They talk openly of getting rid of modern democracy.
And I don't need to mention their open anti-intellectualism and the way they dismiss
science. Just consider their attitudes against evolution.
Yes, there are ideas in Christianity that led to rationalism and liberal democracy, but
you're not giving credit to the right group. Namely, the Greeks came up with the ideas of
science, rationalism, and the concept of the soul. Original Christianity was a secretive
Jewish cult, based on debased versions of Babylonian and Eyptian religious ideas. When
Christianity came in contact with Greek philosophy, it took on Greek ideas and turned into
what we call Christianity.
And the same with Islam. Your allergy towards Islam won't let you see that their monotheism
is far purer than Christianity. No trinity, no god-as-human, no virgin births. The core
ideas of Islam is what Christianity should be. Islam was developed out of Christian and
Jewish ideas from 700 AD, well after the original Christians had restructured their ideas
under Greek philosophy.
That's why Islam was so productive in the arts and sciences from 700 to the 1400s. The idea
of a purely rationalist universe (where everything is logical and rational because Allah is
rational) encourages science and mathematics. Thus Islamic mathematicians invented algebra.
Note the "al-" in algebra? As in al-qaeda? Alcohol. Alchemy. Algorithm. Admiral. Azimuth.
Borax. Cipher. Magazine. And the most brilliant idea of all, upon which modern science,
mathematics, business, and technlogy is built: Zero. Without zero, no binary mathematics. No
computers.
All of these come from the Arabs. Look in the mirror, Lawrence. Recognize the Islamic
influence on the West? Will you finally embrace your Inner Muslim and welcome him to dinner?
You will say, aha!, but why are they so backwards now? It's due to the conservatism of
Islam, and yes, that's the very same conservatism of Christianity that kept Europe from
developing for a thousand years. Intellectuals finally were able to throw off the
suffrocating blanket of Christianity and develop the sciences and technology.
The same is happening to Islam. In these years, many fundamentalist leaders in Islam have
been trying to reject modernism and retreat into ideological purity. But computers (fueled
by good ol' American porn), machines, airplanes, finance, and all the powerful idea of the
modern world will seep in and create a new basis for their world.
That's happening: Osama was trained as an engineer and uses the web and cell phones. He's a
Sunday Muslim, so to speak. He talks Islam, but his work is done using our tools.
This is what happened to all of Huntington's "civilizations". The Indians, the Chinese, the
Koreans, the Japanese, the Malaysians: they have thrown away their civilizations and rushed
into the modern world: computers, cell phones, digital devices, PDAs, MIT, MP3s, jet planes,
72" flat-screen plasma TVs, DVDs, stock markets, IPOs, ... yeah! All the Good Stuff! Based
on rationalist science and technology, based the 3,000-year old ideas of the Greeks.
It's not "the West" anymore. It's the Modern World, globalization, spanning from Berlin to
Paris to NYC to Silicon Valley to Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, and
Bangalore. One huge global network of technology and finance that is extremely attractive to
people who are intelligent because they can work, improve their lives, and become wealthy.
yrs,
andreas
www.andreas.com
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