This is a letter that I sent to the Editor of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette on 09/11/2007.
To The Editor:
There were two articles in today's newspaper that could have benefited from the insights to be found in the book "Peace Be Upon You, The Story of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Coexistence" by historian Zachary Karabell.
First there is the wonderful "As I See It" piece by Mark Wagner with the very inappropriate headline, "U.S. must let terrorism breed intolerance, prejudice, violence". Second there is the usual pseudo-intellectual article by Thomas L. Friedman. The first article suffers in a very minor way and the second in a major way from the Eurocentrism of our education.
According to the book, the attributes of the "Muslim culture" that we fear so much are not inherent to that culture. There were many periods of time in which the Muslim dominated cultures prospered, were more religiously tolerant, and were culturally and scientifically more advanced than the European cultures.
It is almost laughable for Thomas Friedman to repeat the misunderstanding that "Democracy can fail because of ... an aversion to Western values - the wellspring of democracy." If he truly understood the source of the "aversion to Western values", then he would not write the way that he does.
From my reading of the book, I take away the lesson that the Muslim cultures were in the ascendancy and the European cultures lagged when the Muslim cultures emphasized separation of religion from the state and the economy and the European cultures did the opposite.
The balance shifted as the Europeans learned to separate church from state and emphasize science, commerce, and arts as the Muslim cultures forgot that these factors are what made them so powerful.
The western cultures can make the same mistake as the Muslim cultures did by deemphasizing the separation of church and state and the importance of science and the arts. The Muslim cultures might regain some of their former strength by relearning these lessons. Meanwhile, the Chinese and other far eastern cultures surge ahead. They are not hindered any more by this war between reason and enforced fundamentalism.
This is the response that I got from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette:
Your letter to the editor contains 338 words. Letters can be no longer than 250 words. Susan Mulrooney
Here is my 238 word rewrite submitted in 09/12/2007.
The book "Peace Be Upon You, The Story of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Coexistence" by historian Zachary Karabell has insights to help us overcome our Eurocentric misconceptions about the Islamic world.
According to the book, the religious intolerance of the "Muslim culture" is not inherent to that culture. There were significant periods of history when the Muslim dominated cultures were more prosperous, were more religiously tolerant, and were artistically, scientifically, and commercially more advanced than the European cultures.
One lesson that I take away from the book is that the Muslim cultures were in the ascendancy and the European cultures lagged when the Muslim cultures emphasized separation of religion from the state and the economy and the European cultures did the opposite.
The balance shifted in the 1800s as the Europeans (and Americans before them) learned to separate church from state and emphasize science, commerce, and arts. At the same time the Muslim cultures abandoned these factors that made them so powerful.
Some western cultures make the same mistake as the Muslim cultures did when they merge the realms of church and state and flee from the value of reason. Helping Muslim cultures benefit in their own terms from returning to their progressive past might encourage them to abandon their current attitudes. Significantly, the Chinese and other far eastern cultures seem to surge ahead because they are no longer hindered by this war between reason and enforced fundamentalism.