Platt and all fanatic MOQists ;-) On 20 Mar 2007 you quoted Magnus'
> > Fanatic > > Christians are just as "relieved" from intellectual values as > > fanatic Moslems. So don't use the MoQ to demote or promote religious > > beliefs, that's *not* what the MoQ is about. and commented: > Except fanatic Christians today aren't going into crowded marketplaces > and blowing themselves up while killing hundreds of innocent > bystanders. Agree. I have answered Magnus, but a bit more on this subject. As I have understood history Islam had its heyday around year 1000 in our calendar, and while Europe was at its low ebb Islam was the "cutting edge" culture and may be seen as having had the same role as Antique Greece regarding sciences, if not exactly regarding democracy. Anyway there were a most secular leadership of Sultans, Kalifs and other potentates who did not exactly followed the most strict regime regarding prayer and fasting, and at that time there arose a sect in Persia called the Assasssins that can be compared to Al Qaida with a mission to cleanse Islam of its decadent elite. They started a terror campaign against the establishment by sending assassins to the various courts to kill the head figures. This was before firearms and explosives so they had to get near enough for a dagger stab and spent years to obtain confidence for such an event. The attacks were just as suicidal as the present day bomb martyrs, but the followers were absolutely devoted and ready to jump off cliffs if their leader wanted to impress a visitor. This group terrorized the Islamic world for about 70 years, before they were hunted down. The conclusion is that it looks like each time Islam is about to turn "normal" - as it was with Egypt after Nasser and Sadat's peace settlement with Israel - some built-in mechanism prevents it and there arises some assassin-like movement that starts to cleanse Islam internally. The present day Al Qaida emerging from the "Muslim Brotherhood" wasn't originally so much concerned with the West as with their own Egyptian regime that didn't meet their standards. There may be moderate muslims, but they are helpless against the purists because - as said - there exists no reformation or humanist movement in that culture. Taleban-like regimes and Sharia Law are - and will remain - the muslim ideal. And while the rest of the world evolves economically the said region is notoriously stagnant. End of history lesson. Bo moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
