There’s an argument going on over the religion of Islam and its cultural effect on Muslim countries. Since intellectuals never wish to paint large things with the same brush, here’s what you need to know:
- there are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world (2.2 billion Christians)
- there are 50 Muslim-majority countries
Muslim-majority countries
When you say Muslim countries, you really mean Muslim-majority countries because they host people of many religions—just like us.
Muslim-majority countries include: Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. These countries are politically and culturally different. For example, seven of them have had women serve as presidents (e.g., Indonesia and Turkey), while some have just recently given women the partial ability to vote (e.g., Saudi Arabia).
Fundamentalism
Islam has the same types of religious people as us: fundamentalists, progressives, and lights.
Many Muslim-majority countries are also poor with low rates of literacy and large social problems. A common byproduct of a country’s low economic standing is that many of its people follow strict religious beliefs. And fundamentalism can be both good and bad, depending on who’s pulling the strings. Bad leaders take advantage of the simple-minded by using twisted interpretations of scripture to pursue political ends. Good leaders use the exact same scripture to bring hope and comfort.
In Christian countries, bad leaders have used “the word of God” to talk us into burning witches, suppressing women’s rights, suppressing gays, and warring against people of other faiths (plus other Christians) all in His name. But non-religious countries, like China, have also brainwashed their public into warring through nationalism. So is religion really part of the problem or is it just one of the ways to control people?
Modernization
A modern country is a modern country regardless of their majority religion. And most countries continue to move towards greater modernization. When Canada legalized gay marriage in 2005, wasn’t that an act of social modernizing? And now that we’re about to legalize marijuana, isn’t it also the same thing?
Saudi Arabia recently (2015) allowed women to vote in municipal elections—it’s progress. China hasn’t done the same thing yet for men. And is Turkey any more controlled by religion than the US? Many would say yes, but not by much.
It took years of educating Canadians to arrive at where we now are. Education is the impetus behind any society becoming modern. And education is being forced upon any country choosing capitalism so you can’t stop it.
Saudi Arabia is the one exception because it has both money and a theocracy. They’re a country of 20 million with another 8 million guest workers, who bring the educational talents. And only because of their great oil reserves are their leaders able to have their cake and eat it too. But the economic reality for most countries is either to embrace capitalism or face starvation.
Summary
There are a number of points to make:
- You can’t say “Muslim countries” because there are 50 of them—all different. You can’t even generalize because Indonesia and Turkey are much different than Saudi Arabia or Pakistan.
- A bad leader’s twisted interpretation of Islam isn’t much different than a bad leader’s twisted interpretation of Christianity.
- Economic modernization requires an educated society, which brings with it social modernization. And even today’s modern countries are still evolving.
The argument
Sympathizers say fundamentalist interpretations of Islam in order to achieve political gain isn’t to blame. Countries with unstable environments are hotbeds for extremism without the use of religion, and the problem lies more in poor economic conditions and bad leaders. And that absent of religion, these leaders would simply find another way (like, nationalism). Opponents feel that fundamentalist Islam is much worse than fundamentalist Christianity, and the real issue is that so many Muslims are under its spell. And in a world of nuclear bombs, we must desperately hurry these countries along.
Most agree there’s a problem. One that’s dangerous for whatever reason. And I doubt the solution lies in criticizing Islam. I feel a better approach is to get these people listening to country music, eating Domino’s pizza, and watching baseball. Then I’m sure we’ll all get along.
Note: For further discussion, see: Bill Maher with Sam Harris and Ben Affleck, MSNBC with Lawrence O’Donnell and Sam Harris, CNN interview with Reza Aslan, Conversations with Great Minds with Reza Aslan, and The Young Turks discussion between Cenk Uygur and Sam Harris.