Flaming_Maniac wrote:
S.Lythberg wrote:
Flaming_Maniac wrote:
A quick look at a history book says no.
the middle east was a center of academia and progressive thinking during the dark ages, even after the advent of Islam, the unrest in the region is (relatively) more recent.
...which is why the problem is social and not religious. The religion has been around a lot longer than the problem.
Actually, in many ways, you could say the problems have been around longer than the religion. Most of the extreme barbaric practices in the Middle East were around long before Mohammed. Things like honor killings have been around since ancient times, and they pervaded Middle Eastern culture even during their age of scholarship.
What makes the current situation different is that Islam had been moving in a mostly moderate direction up until around the late 1800s, when the British occupation of Palestine started creating tensions through Jewish settlement. After the West supported a few fanatical groups against the Soviets, we eventually ended up with our currrent mess.
So, to an extent, you could actually blame interventionism for these atrocities by helping to empower fanatics and creating environments perfect for terror to flourish.