Thursday, May 25, 2006
A Myth About the Middle East
"...Arab society and much of the Muslim world are not dictatorial or intellectually paralysed because of religion, but the other way around - it is the existence, for other reasons, of such states and societies that itself produces a paralysed religion."
(Myth 86, p.165, "100 Myths about the Middle East", 2005, by Fred Halliday.)
-----
Destruction and deprivation lead to a more primitive religion; development of all kinds can lead to reform and cultural development.
This general principle obviously does not just apply to the Middle East and Islam.
-----
In the Middle East and Afghanistan American policy was a major cause of the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.
A Myth About the Middle East
"...Arab society and much of the Muslim world are not dictatorial or intellectually paralysed because of religion, but the other way around - it is the existence, for other reasons, of such states and societies that itself produces a paralysed religion."
(Myth 86, p.165, "100 Myths about the Middle East", 2005, by Fred Halliday.)
-----
Destruction and deprivation lead to a more primitive religion; development of all kinds can lead to reform and cultural development.
This general principle obviously does not just apply to the Middle East and Islam.
-----
In the Middle East and Afghanistan American policy was a major cause of the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.