 On Islam if we look at Islamic countries in the world today, we've all noticed in different ways This is a generalization, but it seems to me a true generalization their ability to be stable democracies Seems problematic at least right now And I'm not just talking about the Middle East if you look at places like Bangladesh Malaysia other parts They're somewhat democratic, but they don't seem to mature Into quote-unquote normal democracies the way say South Korea and Taiwan have and of course much of the Middle East they're not close to being democracies and Why at the deepest level you could explain as a matter of intellect theology Metaphysics has the doctrine of the religion ended up correlated with this result If I were wise I would say that I'm not I'm neither an expert in Islam nor in politics And therefore I would beg off this question, but I'm not going to Because I think that there is incumbent it is an intellectual necessity of the time since I think there is no question That jihadist Islam is right now as great a threat. I don't want to say the extreme I'm talking about I'm just saying so so there is a necessity. I'm saying to put some intellectual pressure on the question of why it isn't creating societies of healthier political climates I Would say if I had to pick one thing that is at the heart of Islam that is that is Anti-democratic it is the concept that's very deep that is in the very name of the religion of submission Because a population that is trained Essentially to submit is a population that will create authoritarians and so I think that the That the recalcitrance I mean when you think about Israel the founders of Israel none of them came from democracies They came from Russia. They came. I mean they came from Eastern Europe. They came from the Levant They didn't know from democracy and yet. Why did they create a democracy because they were all argued with each other Seriously, they all did that's like my friend Joseph Epstein has a great line. He said Jews don't listen. They wait and I think that and That idea that the disputatious culture of the Talmud and so on it's good for democracy And I think that the culture of submission it can be corrosive to it