A Clash of Ideologies
For those of you who've read Michael Yon, and maybe had him linked to your google homepage, and haven't bothered to check his blogspot blog, it's done and he's moved. The new site is here, and the rss feed is here.
One of his most recent posts documents comments made by an American woman from Syria who appeared on Al-Jazeera recently and spun the Muslim world into a frenzy with her comments. Her thesis? That current conflicts in the Middle East reflect a greater conflict between ideologies of modernism and barbarism rather than problems in Islam itself:
“The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality.”
She goes on to site the Jews, saying that after the holocaust and their persecution, they've forced the world to respect them by their hard work and peaceful, productive efforts to benefit society. You don't, and haven't, seen Jewish suicide bombers attacking bars in Germany.
I think she's right on. The more I read about conflicts in the middle east, the more I think about the middle ages, and how Christianity behaved so similarly several centuries ago. Read the dispatch and her comments - maybe (hopefully) she'll someday be remembered as the Rosa Parks who stood up and told the Clerics enough is finally enough.
posted by RJ @ 1:44 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I think there is a good deal of truth in her comments, but I do think religion is a serious issue in this conflict. Christians during the middle ages didn't behave exactly alike - we wagged ridiculous crusades sometimes only for child enslavement but we didn't do suicide stuff. Now obviously there were no suicide bombers back then because there weren't really any bombs, but suicide in Christianity has a totally different place than in Islam. In the former it was seen as a mortal sin where in the latter it is a way to salvation (nuances on both sides but basicaly correct).
To not see a relgious aspect in this conflict is to buy into the modernist conception that religion is really a private 'spiritual' matter which doesn't really affect life. Not true and the longer we fail to see religions part in this conflict the more dangerous it will become.
Besides - part of the reason Islam is not modernising is BECAUSE of its religious beliefs, not seperate from them. And that's a memo.
I partially agree with your last bit - that religion is the reason Islam isn't modernising - but not completely. I believe that the shans, emirs, and clerics are using Islam for power and control. They're adjusting the religious matrix of Islam to fit their specific goal to remain in power, fight the west, and retain control over their masses. I don't think true islam has much to do with it for the upper eschelons - it's all about power.
Christianity went through a phase just like this. If we'd had bombs, suicide would've been called something different. The simple fact is that missions during the crusades often amounted to little more than suicide, and this was seen as a glorious death that earned merit in heaven.
I don't think this has anything to do with the modernist conception that religion is private. I think it's accurately addressing the ways that religion is mixed and mingled with every other element of culture. History shows that this remains true during periods of change, evidenced by the huge changes in Christianity since it's inception to the middle ages and into modern times.
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