Muslims Are The New Southerners

(This is a duplicate posting from my LiveJournal.)



Which doesn't mean I sympathize, but that I understand.

During the early days of the US, the slavery issue came to be one of sectional moral superiority on the part of the North. We're better than you, went the meme, because we don't keep slaves anymore. Well, few things get someone's dander up like being told that they are morally inferior. A war was fought because of it, and white Southerners to this day still feel resentful because of it.

Muslims are in that position now. Much of Islam hasn't advanced much since the time of Mohammed, especially attitudes toward gays, women, and non-believers. Naturally enough, the rest of the world sees this as backward, reactionary and uncivilized: the moral judgment.

We're better than you, goes the new meme, because we don't stone adulterers and chop hands off of thieves.

Unfortunately, with Islam the second largest religion in the world, and most of its followers far more devout than any other religion (including secularism), it doesn't bode well for changing hearts and minds, does it? The US Civil War may seem like a minor skirmish compared to the war that may have to be fought to force Islam to modernize.

Sort of a dreary thought on a Tuesday afternoon, hmm?