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**JamesTornC** · 03-07-2011, 06:51 PM

... the reply from Mr. Sina:

Islam cannot be reformed. But it can be eradicated.

Imagine a World Without Islam

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The Informed Reader Blog
By Robin Moroney
JANUARY 3, 2008

What would the world be like without Islam? No clash of civilizations? No 9/11? No holy wars?

Actually, all of these events would likely have occurred, says Graham Fuller, a professor of history at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, and a former long-range forecaster for the Central Intelligence Agency. Take away Islam, and the world would still be left with the main forces that drive today’s conflicts, including colonialism, cross-national ideologies, ethnic conflicts and terrorism, says Mr. Fuller in Foreign Policy.

Mr. Fuller ponders a litany of history’s major battles to drive home his message that while Islam might be a convenient culprit, but global strife, past and present, can’t be blamed on any one religion. Europeans would still have wanted the spoils of the Middle East and launched the Crusades, he says, albeit under a different banner. The West still would have tried various ways to get control of oil-rich areas. The French would still have gone into Algeria for its farm lands. The creation of Israel would still have displaced Palestinians, no matter what their religion.

The inhabitants of the Middle East wouldn’t be more comfortable with these events if they belonged to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the Middle East’s predominant religion when Mohammed arrived. In fact, a religious fissure between Western Europe and the Middle East would probably still exist, says Mr. Fuller, noting that Eastern Orthodox Christianity has an anti-Western narrative of its own dating back to the sacking of Constantinople in 1204.

True, without Islam, the people of the Middle East would lack a powerful, cross-border unifying force that sometimes is co-opted by a small number of people inclined toward violence. But the Middle East would have access to similar forces, such as Marxism or ethnic nationalism, that have served that purpose in other parts of the world. Indeed, in 2006, the European police force Europol said that only one of the 498 terrorist acts in the European Union was Islamist. The rest were largely committed by separatist and left-wing groups.

Copyright © 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

03-07-2011, 06:51 PM	#24
JamesTornC Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 319 Senior Member	... the reply from Mr. Sina: Islam cannot be reformed. But it can be eradicated. Imagine a World Without Islam THE WALL STREET JOURNAL The Informed Reader Blog By Robin Moroney JANUARY 3, 2008 What would the world be like without Islam? No clash of civilizations? No 9/11? No holy wars? Actually, all of these events would likely have occurred, says Graham Fuller, a professor of history at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, and a former long-range forecaster for the Central Intelligence Agency. Take away Islam, and the world would still be left with the main forces that drive today’s conflicts, including colonialism, cross-national ideologies, ethnic conflicts and terrorism, says Mr. Fuller in Foreign Policy. Mr. Fuller ponders a litany of history’s major battles to drive home his message that while Islam might be a convenient culprit, but global strife, past and present, can’t be blamed on any one religion. Europeans would still have wanted the spoils of the Middle East and launched the Crusades, he says, albeit under a different banner. The West still would have tried various ways to get control of oil-rich areas. The French would still have gone into Algeria for its farm lands. The creation of Israel would still have displaced Palestinians, no matter what their religion. The inhabitants of the Middle East wouldn’t be more comfortable with these events if they belonged to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the Middle East’s predominant religion when Mohammed arrived. In fact, a religious fissure between Western Europe and the Middle East would probably still exist, says Mr. Fuller, noting that Eastern Orthodox Christianity has an anti-Western narrative of its own dating back to the sacking of Constantinople in 1204. True, without Islam, the people of the Middle East would lack a powerful, cross-border unifying force that sometimes is co-opted by a small number of people inclined toward violence. But the Middle East would have access to similar forces, such as Marxism or ethnic nationalism, that have served that purpose in other parts of the world. Indeed, in 2006, the European police force Europol said that only one of the 498 terrorist acts in the European Union was Islamist. The rest were largely committed by separatist and left-wing groups. Copyright © 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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