Alan, I agree that I was looking at *Arabic* Islam, in which specific bad features of Arabic culture have congealed with the religion. It is as if I were to judge Christianity solely by reference to the Spanish Inquisition. However, this being said, it is presently true that Arab Islam is the most important single strand. It may be that the softer oriental versions will gradually take over. If so, this is to be desired. Indeed, so far as we can, we should even encourage this. In the meantime, though, I think it wise to be aware of the nastiness of much actually existing Islam, and to challenge any claims that its devotees may make to moral superiority over our own civilisation. I think I was too harsh in my postings of last week. But I stand by my dislike of the Islam that I most often see. Yours ever, Sean. PS I seem to be breaking my self-denying ordinance about postings on Islam to the list. But this I suppose only confirms Tallpaul's doubts regarding the honour and consistency of libertarians! On Mon, 19 Feb 1996, Alan Horowitz wrote:
Sean,
Women's place in Islam is just fine. The problem is that _Arabs_ like to define their ages-old cultural suppression of woman as Islamic. Which it is not.
YOu in England are dealing with an unrepresentative sample of the Islamic world. May I suggest a few weeks of traveling through Java and Mindanao, to see another side of the coin.
The crusaders liked to define their thuggery and thievery in the Balkans and middle East as being driven by Christian imperatives. Should we say that the Crusader's *actions* were a good definition of "christian principles"?
Alan Horowitz alanh@norfolk.infi.net