Lest we forget

[Thorne]

You're forgetting that 300 years ago Europeans where doing exactly the same thing as the Arabs are doing now to each other, to other religions and to women. You are treating the Arabs, (and Persians) like they will always be like this. In the 13'th century the Arabs where the enlighetened people and the Europeans where the retards. 500 years of currupt Ottoman rule wiped out any head start they had.

No, I'm not forgetting. True, during the dark ages in Europe the Arab nations were more advanced in sciences and mathematics. The difference is, back then you couldn't kill 2000 people by running a horse drawn coach into a building. Or spread radioctive dust over hundreds of square miles of urban areas with a few pounds of explosives.

...and you're just wrong in that they have always been like this. There's an evolution and we in the West started our journey towards democracy and enlightenment 300 years ago and the middle-east started in the 1950'ies. Just comparing their culture to ours as is just isn't fair. You've got to give them some time to catch up. 50 years is not a lot in these circumstances. It takes many more generations for these values to catch on, and I'm sure they will. They did here and there's no reason it couldn't over there. Don't forget that we take on many values from our parents and the changes in values between generations are very gradual.

First you said that they were more enlightened than the Europeans, now you say we have to give them time to catch up? In other words, they have Devolved.
Personally, I don't care which religion they practice, or who they can con into practicing with them. Everyone is entitled to their own personal beliefs. What I object to is their trying to force their beliefs on the rest of the world through violence and terrorism.(And yes, I know the Roman Catholic Church is just as guilty of this historically.) In my opinion, if your religion is so screwed up that you must force people to accept it, it isn't a religion.

...and don't judge them to harshly. We still aren't free from sin and have plenty of problems. Just the fact that women and men don't have equal oportunities or pay, or that we still have rampant racism. USA has increasing numbers turning to religion. How's that for belonging to an enlightened age? Who's up for throwing the first stone? We aren't at some final stage of enlightenment. We are just as the people in the middle-east right in the middle of evolving our culture to something new. Evolution is constant and ever changing.

It's my understanding that religion in the US is in decline. Except for the very vocal religious right wing fanatics, most people of faith are more interested in their personal form of worship than in organized religion. A quote from the remake of "Flight of the Phoenix" comes to mind. The Arab character says, "Faith brings people together, religion drives them apart."

I'm with you on the space plan. Too many religious freaks down here for my taste.

Anyone ready to book a flight to Alpha Centauri? Shouldn't take more than 10,000 years to get there!