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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (94916)	4/19/2003 1:34:28 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 281500

The greatest threat to militant Islam is not from secularism. It is from the moderate Islam. Agreed.. But moderate Islam must be able to "deliver the goods" with regard to economic opportunity and social order. And Islamic institutions have little history of being able to do that. And the same can be said of Christian or other religious systems, where power is derived from the clergy. We need only look back a couple of hundred years and identify how progressive secularism had to fight against religious orthodoxy and accusations of heresy by the Catholic Church. Look at all the scientifc advances that were stifled because they threatened the power of some religious heirarchy intent on maintaining their religious control over society. But the one advantage Islam has is that there is not traditional heirarchy, such as a pope or high priest. It is very democratic to a certain extent as you stated, by choosing their particular religious leaders. Thus, there is an opportunity to reach out to certain ones, supporting those who share our moderate values and who recognize that they need a system that provides economic prosperity. It must our goal to provide sufficient support to moderates, while depriving the militants of their financial support (through Saudi Arabia and Iran) if we're ever going to turn the tide against this rising militancy. While I recognize that religious leaders will seek to become dominant players within the political arena, I believe that it's important to provide their secular democratic rivals the support they need to draw the people towards them... Because people are people everywhere. They ultimately vote their pocketbooks, knowing what side their bread is buttered on... (how that for blending two cliches?.. :0) As for confederacies? They seldom work. It didn't work in the US, and there are doubts that it will work in Europe. Even Canada has troubles with their pseudo-confederacy, with Quebec constantly seeking to secede. Confederacies just have a natural inclination towards self-destruction and dissolution. At the very least, they make for tremendous internal turmoil. Hawk