Robin Wright - Challenges for Reform in the Islamic World

[halneufmille]

"The Christian reformation that gave birth to the enlightenment".

Firs time I hear this theory. Montesquieu, Voltaire, Denis Diderot, d'Alembert, Marquis de Condorcet, etc. were all prominent French figures of the enlightenment. I always thought Enlightenment was about empiricism, scientific rigor and reductionism instead of religion.

[sambricky]

Just like christianity and judaism, Islamic religion has no evidence of its god. Muslims get no special favor. Until the religious can physically prove thier god they will always be scrutinized. It seems to me religion is more of a political position than a morally caring position. Just how is it moral to want to kill one another over an unproved hypothesis.

[hurahman]

fuck this bitch...while her soldiers kill muslims...fuck america!!

[apostate123]

There is no terminology for democracy in any of the major Islamic languages, Arabic, Persian, & Turkish.

[kamaranakhdar]

@apostate123

Uhm, actually there is, how good's your Arabic?

[totokoe]

People seem confused between Islam and Muslim. Reforming Islam will never happen, but reforming muslim.....to follow the true teaching of Islam is obligatory to all muslim.

Peace be with you all without exception!

[byteresistor]

Reform Islam?

Islam can not reform, you cannot reform the word of god.

Islam means submission to god, reform is not submision.

It can not never change, it doesn't allow change, none whatsoever. It hasn't changed since the 7th century because the Koran demands to be taken word to word and the people who have been brainwashed since birth follow this believe. If you do not follow it then you are a heretic and will get killed. That is the iron grip of Islam. Believe or die.

[bvh412]

This woman is nothing but a mouth piece for the US establishment. She promotes the establishment line- Islamic law for the middle east. Same as Brzezinski, Khalilzad, Scrowcroft, and co. She promotes herself as an independent journalist, its b.s. This woman cares more about her paycheck and carear than reporting the truth to the American people.

[megatron0357]

islam is much deeper than what is presented today as "islam". There would be no way islam would have spread as far as it is now. if the islam of the past was as onde dimesional as islam is practiced now. much of islamic history and thinking has been shaken by events such as colonialism....and the long gradual decline (and corruption i'm sure) of the ottoman empire. even the 20th century is full of disruptions in islamic thought because of nationalism and the cold war tensions. dig deeper. peace

[ritchloui]

@megatron0357 You seem to think Islam would not have spread so far if it was as one-dimensional as it is now. Hum. Islam spread as far as it did because Arab bandit slavers used vast armies of castrated Africans to conquer their neighbours. Is that what you think is missing? The Enlightenment changed the world and had the moral sophistication to abhor and abolish slavery. Something neither Christianity nor Islam did in 2,000 and 1,400 hundred years respectively.

[Cr8zyCanuck]

Islam is more hostile than other religions, in so many ways. Islam is a celestial North Korea of sorts (as Hitchens mentions). I thought we do not appease dictatorships in democracy? Do we? But of course we do. We support China's economy. It appears when the dictatorship doesn't have anything to offer us, we are less confident in appeasing it. We need to stop being hypocrites and stand up for democracy and freedom in all areas of life.

[zawam]

islam is to be destroyed not appeased

[kamaranakhdar]

@zawam

you're a fucking retard.

[simplybornhuman]

Yah, like in the new "liberal Afghanistan" where a student just got hanged for blaspheme, thanks to bringing a book on womans rights to school.

how are we going to progress if they ban free speech, even youtube?

[ThePortugueseAtheist]

Unfortunately too many "liberals" think that free speech is dangerous.

As long as we are ruled by cynical hypocrites who feel ashamed of being who they are (liberals) and politically correct censors who profit at the expenses of our freedom of speech (e.g. YouTube), we will never go anywhere.