Blog-IT-o ergo sum

	5/27/2003

Islam and technological advancement

The recently discovered RalphSpeak got me thinking again about Islam. It is unfortunate that the current media spin is that Islam is a religion that cannot bear progress and that by definition never can. While today this may appear true for the regions under its influence, certainly we have a problem reconciling this view with the historical facts. That is, while Europe (The West) was languishing in the aftermath of the fall of the debauched Roman Empire, a retired business magnate launched a new religion that swept across a significant portion of the civilized world leading to a society that produced such things as the foundations of modern chemistry, the astrolab/chronometer the precursor for navigation of the globe, and the development of the world's largest trade route, the silk road. These are not small advances in the history of the civilized world and they did not come about in spite of Islam. It would appear from experience that there should be cause for hope in reconciling technological progress and Islamic doctrine. Reconciling it with Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism is of course another story.

10:16:34 AM

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Food Fight

Ed Cone took me to task on my cheap shot at the UN. I should have stated the inspiration for my observation. I withheld it though since it came to me in an e-mail referencing a story in the New York Post, a publication not known to have as diligent fact checkers as the reputable NYT. As I am fond of the header he gave to his post, here is newbie blogger RalphSpeak's observation of what the recent food riot of UN diplomats tells us about their personal credibility and (by inference in my reckoning) that of the regimes they represent. Or, you may go direct to the source article in Time Magazine if the mass media opinion suits you better. (editor's note: I apologize for my exageration that the Guilford County Board of Commissioners have sunk to the level of the UN diplomatic core.)

9:07:29 AM

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