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Mohammed must come to the mountain

Reader comment on item: Articulating American Ideals to Muslims

Submitted by Brooks Imperial (United States), Jan 18, 2006 at 18:35

But Dr. Pipes, wouldn't an effort to bring Muslims into modernity through education tend to suffer from the same flaw that dooms the welfare state to failure? Namely, an imposed set of ideals will probably have no more lasting effect than an imposed set of conditions.

My inclination is to disagree with you and propose that people who avow western ideals should boldly live them with conviction and confidence in their proven success in bettering the human condition. Muslims will catch on or they won't, but I suspect their awakening will have to be something they initiate. Chasing our tails to make modernity relevant to a medieval cult seems pointless.
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Daniel Pipes replies:

I think a better analogy would be the imposition of American ideals in Germany and Japan post-World War II. It can work.

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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