I did not read the article since access required a subscription to _Salon_. However, the abstract/trailer for the article indicates that it is seriously biased toward painting Islam in a negative light and overstating certain proclivities in the religion as a social phenomenon toward violence and anti-democratic political theory.
I highly suspect that it will be a feel-good article for western conservatives and cultural patriots that renders Islam in an excessively negative light and white-washes the real political and theological history of Judaism and Christianity. In short, read with caution. Regard this article as propaganda, not scholarship. ===================== As for the author, it was not easy to do a web goto. This might be a short bio of the same man from what looks like a vanity press with a web site at http://www.1stbooks.com (I didn't know that a web address could start with a number!) Note that this R.C. might be a fairly accomplished amatuer religious comparativist. However, he is a polyglot and the absence of Arabic or Persian makes his qualifications as an expert on Islam questionable. (Urdu is a major language of Muslims but it looks like he learned Hindi as part of Indic studies involving Sanskrit. Hindi and Urdu are nearly the same language but are writen with different alphabets, so it is said that if you know one learning the other is almost trivial.) Richard Connerney is a 28-year-old author and scholar living in Brooklyn. He has published several short stories, including the upcoming The Queen of Exit 17 included in Susie Bright's Best American Erotica 2000 (under the pen name Ernie Conrick). The recipient of numerous research grants, Mr. Connerney is widely traveled in both South and Central Asia and has just completed a tour of Outer Mongolia. An enthusiastic linguist, the author has studied numerous languages including Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Tibetan, Mongolian, German and Latin. On Thursday 11 October 2001 09:37, you wrote: > There is a very good article on Salon.com by Richard Connerney today on > Islam, the meaning of the term Jihad as it is defined by the Q'uran, and > how the religion may very well be incompatible with democratic principles. > This had been discussed onlist a bit a few days back (I can't remember the > name of the thread!) > > The article is part of Salon Premium (I know, this is the second time in as > many days that I've referenced an article on there. *sigh*) If anyone > wants a copy let me know and I'll send it on offlist (since I do believe > that it is way over 10K). > > Original URL: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2001/10/11/sword/index.html > > Excerpt: > "This furthermore explains the inability of Islamic culture to adapt and > accept ideas of modernity and secular government. It is no secret that > representative democracy does not take well in the Muslim world. Liberal > democracy of the American variety requires the embrace of tolerance over > truth, the relinquishment of any binding central religious truth or > ideology in government. The very idea of our country arises out of a > weariness of the religious wars of Europe. This idea, of a government > without a religious vision of absolute truth, is contrary to the Muslim > community's very conception of religious community." > > Jon
