Quote:
Originally Posted by SoonerCoug
So you're suggesting that Islamic societies are contributing something valuable to the world other than the meager material things that I mentioned?
America makes huge contributions to human knowledge and progress. Members of moderately religious (non-fanatical) subcultures contribute to that progress.
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I don't think Islamic societies are presently contributing much of anything besides oil and carpets. But nor do I think America's prosperity is much due to Americans' religiosity, whether moderate or radical. It is due to America's preeminent values of supporting empiricism and economic and civil liberties--science and freedom--which are to a large extent in conflict with religion. Religion in America and elsewhere is to a large extent a relic of the past. Hence the extreme reactions of certain religious factions in our country and the Middle East. It is radicalism born of desperation.
The moderateness of religion in America that you reference is due to America's secular values rooted in the Constitution, not because American religions are inherently morally superior to Islam. If you could magically separate religion from America's secular culture which, as I suggested, is rooted in Classical culture and more immediately in the Constitution, not any religion, I submit you would not see a decline in America's standing as a world power or morality in America. America today represents in large measure a triumph over religion, and America's secular culture is what makes much of religion moderate in America. Absent that no American religion would support support basic civil liberties such as freedom of speech or even property interests any more than they have historically, and America would be as backward as any society in history that has been a true theocracy, whether it is Christian or Islamic.
I agree with your basic cricticisms of Islam in this age, but to suggest that America's virtues and prosperity compared to the Middle East's problems exist because our religious heritage is superior to Islam in any way is ahistorical and narrow minded.