A Culture Stuck in the Middle Ages

Sometimes when I'm talking to my left leaning friends and I mention the level of advancement among Muslim countries and the need for reformation, I get the feeling that they find this very distasteful to point out. It isn't. In this life or death struggle with a group of people who have different values than us, we have to get a firm grip on how they view the world. Some say that Muslims are angry over occupation and other transgressions. This is the world view of Juan Cole, who I regularly berate. We can't accept this as an answer. Not unless we want to step back in time. Iran once again invites us back by bringing up how they have been harmed by Jews existing in the Middle East. Here is the foreign minister talking about the Holocaust: "Our friends in Europe stress that such a crime has taken place and they have stated certain figures that were actually suffered. We have no argument about that, but what we are saying here is to put right such a horrific event, why should the Muslims pay a price?" Exactly how is someone in Tehran affected by someone in Jaifa? Simply put, they chose to imagine the harm.

At one time in the Middle Ages, Christians imagined all kinds of insults done to them because of something that was rumored to have happened to other Christians. The Crusades were popular among the rable because of this very tribal way of looking at the world. A way in which you view all situations as conflict and you figure out which side you are on depending upon who's involved. Arabs have a saying about this. My brother before my neighbor, my neighbor before ....etc.

To allow Muslim nations like Iran to view the world this way makes conflict inevitable. Solving the Palestinian crisis will only allow them to move to the next grievance. Travel in the south of Spain and you will learn that there are plenty of Muslims who want the Alhambra restored. In general, conflict will not stop until all infidels are gone.

Christianity had to reform itself and then separate itself from temporal power. Until Muslims start demanding the same, this conflict will never end.