"Islamic revivalism has challenged many of the presuppositions of Western liberal secularism and development theory: modernization means the inexorable or progressive secularization and Westernization of society.
Too often analysis and policymaking have been shaped by a liberal secularism that fails to recognize that it too represents a worldview that, when assumed to be a self-evident truth, can take the form of a "secular fundamentalism." Secularism or liberal democracy is no longer regarded as "a" way (one of many possible paradigms, albeit for some the best way) but as "the" way, the only true path for political development. In the name of enlightenment (reason, empiricism, pluralism), a new absolute, a new norm, is subtly posited. Alternative paradigms, especially religious ones, are necessarily judged as abnormal, irrational, and retrogressive-a potential threat domestically and internationally. "
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"As some dream of the creation of a New World Order, and many millions in North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and South and Southeast Asia aspire to greater political liberalization or democratization, the continued vitality of Islam represents a complex reality. Diverse movements cannot be reduced to a monolith and they cannot be evaluated or responded to by a preestablished, one-dimensional formula or strategy. Distinctions must be drawn between authentic populist movements that participate within the system and radical violent revolutionaries.
For many Muslims, Islamic revivalism is a social (rather than a political) movement whose goal is a more Islamically minded and oriented society but not necessarily the creation of an Islamic state. Indeed many, for pragmatic reasons (recognition of the power of authoritarian rulers) or out of disillusionment with the excesses of Islamic republics like Sudan, Iran, and Afghanistan, focus on Islamization of society rather than politics. For others, the establishment of an Islamic order requires the creation of an Islamic state. Although some advocate violent revolution, others do not. Islam and most Islamic movements are not necessarily anti-Western, anti-American, or antidemocratic. Although they challenge the outdated assumptions of the established order and autocratic regimes, they do not necessarily threaten U.S. interests. Our challenge is to better understand the history and realities of the Muslim world and to recognize the diversity and the many faces of Islam. This approach lessens the risk of creating self-fulfilling prophecies that augur the battle of the West against a radical Islam or a clash of civilizations. Guided by its stated ideals and goals of freedom and self-determination, the West has an ideal vantage point for appreciating the aspirations of many in the Muslim world as they seek to define and forge new paths for their future. "
Read it. It's a good article.
As an interesting aside, on the subject of western "secular fundamentalism", I watched the news tonight on the BBC. They had a reporter from inside Afghanistan reporting on the arrest of another BBC reporter inside Afghanistan (bear in mind all western reporters were kicked out of Afghanistan by the Taliban recently). The first reporter (a woman) expressed concern for the well-being of the other reporter (another woman) because, among other things, of the "well-known dislike of the Taliban for western women". Why is the BBC sending female reporters into a country where they are in much more danger than men would be? Is it just a politically correct refusal to send in only male reporters, or a provocation?
The interesting asidesoften provide a clearer picture of the problem than all of the "scholarly" opinion put together--don't they? This bothered me the first time I read the news too. It's really a big deal, if you think about it, from so many angles.
I remember reading in Roman Polanski's autobiography that when he first came to the USA everyone wanted his opinion about hippies. He observed something to the effect that hippies proved that America really was the richest entity on earth because no other People could afford such waste and unreality.
That sense of waste and unreality seems to stalk much of the "developed" world. It makes me wonder just exactly what it is we've been developing all these years. We seem to have developed along the lines of breast implants. You know---developed, yes, but there is no THERE, there....