Re: OT: needed: witty facts re: positive aspects of Islamic culture

on 4/8/08 6:18 PM, Mark J. Reed at markjreed@MAIL.COM wrote:

> I would also like to point out to Stevo that many of the Middle East's
> great cultural advancements were actually made *after* they had
> adopted Islam.  So you can't really blame their subsequent decline on
> the religion, except perhaps indirectly via the Crusades. But even
> then, I'm not convinced Christendom wouldn't have found another excuse
> for the campaigns.  Religion makes a great scapegoat for war, a good
> way to whip the troops into a fervor, etc, but it's rarely the true
> cause...

Identity is the root cause of most conflicts - from a 2 person arguement to
genocidal war.

Threaten a person's or a peoples' identity and you have all the excuse or
rationale for conflict.


--
Hanuman Zhang

"I rather be whole than good." - Carl Jung

                "On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good
                and not quite all the time." - George Orwell


"Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above
morality. Be not simply good; be good for something." - Henry David Thoreau

Success has many fathers, but failure is a bastard.