Quote Originally Posted by gismo View Post
Islam in some countries is simmilar to that of medieval christian Europe. In Europe, common sense has gave christianity a bit of a kicking, the same cannot be said for Islam in parts of the Middle East.
Yeah, I don't buy this argument for a number of reasons.

Let me address the argument as commonly stated: "Islam is in its 'medieval' phase, just as Christianity was some 500+ years ago."

First of all, the Middle Ages are undeservedly maligned, seeing as the true roots of Western civilization came out of the Middle Ages and not any earlier period of time, and the developments of the Renaissance were just a natural off-growth of Medieval thought and not sudden and disjointed return to Classical thought whatsoever as some people have tried to revise history to reflect.

Secondly, Islam is not a new religion. It is around 1300 years old, and unlike Christianity, it did not take nearly as long for Islam to mature and gain hegemony.

Finally, humanization has been a global force and liberty has spread throughout the globe. Its adoption has not been merely national or even regional. All nations and regions have tried to resist it to larger or lesser degrees, and its influence is felt to different degrees in different places, but I would argue that you can find the strongest holdouts in terms of resisting humanization and liberalism for any other reason aside from pure greed or tyranny in Islamic nations. Even in liberal nations, and even among many (though not all) of the more educated followers, Muslims vigorously resist adoption of more moderate forms of their religion, unlike followers of any other religion. Why is this? I can't help but believe that there is something different about Islam, and again I cannot tell if it is something to do with simply its contemporary culture or if it's something intrinsic to the religion.