The change has to come from within - slowly. No other country can impose democracy on a nation that (for the time being) believes it is a good idea to stone to death a woman who committed adultery, just as we could not impose the "Miss World" thing on a nation who believes in hiding women's bodies from men's eyes.
you cannot discount the dangers of religious fundamentalism, which seem to be fueling violence in Nigeria (Miss World Riots), in Kashmir, India proper, Pakistan (bombings of churches or church-goers), and the Phillipines.
Sporadic events like this will always happen anywhere. We just started to notice them re Muslim religion, because of the heightened awareness on the topic in the past year or so. I am afraid riots and sporadic bombings here and there will always happen, and they are the internal affairs of a country. They will have to deal with it in their own way.
By the way, if you take a look into the subject, you will see that Kashmir situation is a little more complex than religious fervor.
how do we address this, if the root source is an indoctrinated belief that the "enemy" represents a hostile and evil culture that must be opposed
I just realized that the above sentence looks awfully similar to Bush et al talking about "the axis of evil" <g>
(Seriously, I am beginning to see a similarity in rhetoric here, not unlike the Soviet era cold-war doctrines on both sides.)
What can be done? Start with the (correct) assumption that a significant majority of Muslims are not interested in "holy war" or any sort of war. Remember that Islam has been around for ages, and that it is now that the hostilities have begun. Also note that the attacks are not against all countries with Christian majorities, nor are there any attacks markedly religious in nature - i.e. I don't see anyone attacking Vatican, for example.
What this leaves us is the undeniable fact that the main target is America & Israel, not "the western lifestyle and non-Islamic belief systems". I think we first need to answer the question "Why?" - because the US is the most powerful country, because its foreign policy in the Middle East has not be ideal, because.....? |
