{"id":3407,"date":"2011-03-28T16:34:04","date_gmt":"2011-03-28T16:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com.108-166-28-151.mdgnetworks.com\/wordpress\/?p=3407"},"modified":"2013-03-27T16:38:33","modified_gmt":"2013-03-27T16:38:33","slug":"the-secularist-delusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-secularist-delusion\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secularist Delusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Bruce S. Thornton<\/p>\n

Advancing a Free Society<\/em><\/p>\n

The dubious received wisdom rationalizing our current intervention in Libya was crystallized in Senator John Kerry\u2019s recent\u00a0essay<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0The Wall Street Journal<\/em>. For Kerry, the rebels in Libya are the same as those in Egypt, \u201cpeacefully demanding freedom and dignity.\u201d Long oppressed by tyrants and dictators, young people across the Middle East are \u201ccrying out for the opportunity to live a decent life, get a real job, and provide for a family.\u201d This explosion of resistance across the Middle East, moreover, \u201ccould be the most important geostrategic shift since the fall of the Berlin Wall.\u201d Much like George Bush \u2014 whose interventionist policies Kerry and his party spent eight years excoriating \u2014 Kerry\u2019s vision reflects the faith that liberal democracy and free-market economies are the inevitable end of historical progress, for they fulfill humanity\u2019s most important goods \u2014 personal freedom and material prosperity.<\/p>\n

Apparently, many in Egypt didn\u2019t get Kerry\u2019s idealistic memo. He should have read the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u2019 morning-after reassessment of its own giddy coverage of the protests in Egypt. Now the\u00a0Times<\/em>\u00a0notices that \u201creligion has emerged as a powerful political force,\u201d that \u201cthe Muslim Brotherhood was expected to have an edge in the contest for influence,\u201d and that those hip young folks with their tweets and Facebook pages, according to a secular Egyptian television producer, \u201chave no control of the revolution anymore. It was evident in the last few weeks when you saw a lot of bearded people taking charge. The youth are gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the US-trained and financed Egyptian army that ousted Mubarak and supposedly empowered the now-vanished secular youth, consider the following\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0from Raymond Ibrahim of the Middle East Forum: \u201cOn March 5, Muslims attacked, plundered, and set ablaze an ancient Coptic church in Sool, a village near Cairo, Egypt. Afterwards, throngs of Muslims gathered around the scorched building and pounded its walls down with sledgehammers \u2014 to cries of \u2018Allahu Akbar.\u2019 Adding insult to injury, the attackers played \u2018soccer\u2019 with the relic-remains of the church\u2019s saints and martyrs and transformed the desecrated church into a mosque.\u201d As for the Egyptian army, \u201cnot only did the Egyptian army allow the wanton destruction of the church to go unfettered, but it also opened fire on Christians protesting the burning of the church, killing nine and seriously wounding at least a hundred, some beaten with electric batons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such illiberal behavior won\u2019t surprise anyone who knows what the\u00a0Times<\/em>\u00a0and Kerry alike apparently don\u2019t \u2014 the totalizing influence of religion in the Muslim Middle East. \u201cMost Muslim countries,\u201d Bernard Lewis writes in\u00a0The Crisis of Islam<\/em>, \u201care still profoundly Muslim, in a way and in a sense that most Christian countries are no longer Christian . . . in no Christian country at the present time can religious leaders count on the degree of belief and participation that remains normal in Muslim lands . . . Christian clergy do not exercise or even claim the kind of public authority that is still normal and accepted in most Muslim countries.\u201d And this influence and authority exist because for many millions of Muslims, religion still provides the dominant source of meaning, law, politics, and principles for their lives.<\/p>\n

So too with those Libyan rebels Senator Kerry believes are fighting for \u201cjobs, respect and democracy.\u201d He should read the\u00a0interview<\/a>\u00a0with Libyan rebel leader Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, who fought against Americans in Afghanistan with the Islamist Libyan Fighting Group. Al-Hasidi admits to recruiting fighters who had fought in Iraq, and claims that \u201cmembers of al Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader.\u201d What sort of \u201cdemocracy\u201d does Kerry think such \u201cgood Muslims\u201d will create once Gaddafi has been ousted with the help of our million-and-a-half-dollar Tomahawk cruise missiles? We don\u2019t know, but events unfolding so far next-door in Egypt suggest it won\u2019t be the New England townhall democracy of current fantasy.<\/p>\n

This misunderstanding of the uprisings in the Middle East reflects the secularist and materialist biases of Western modernity. Hence Kerry\u2019s misplaced emphasis on \u201cjobs, respect and democracy,\u201d when millions of Muslims are equally if not more concerned with obedience to Allah and reclaiming Islam\u2019s lost prestige. No more useful are the by now clich\u00e9d false analogies with the collapse of the communist regimes in the old Warsaw Pact nations. Those Eastern European countries were the heirs of a liberal democratic and Christian civilization deformed by an atheist ideology that perforce would always be alien to the mass of people. Thus when the communist promises of equality and materialist prosperity went unfulfilled, those gangster regimes collapsed from the weight of their own failure and brutality. The Islamists, in contrast, appeal to a 14-centuries-long tradition of pure Muslim faith shared by the vast majority of Muslims, one warped and weakened by modern infidel ideologies whether liberal democratic, fascist, or communist. The freedom such believers want, then, is the freedom to craft a socio-political order consistent with the Islamic tradition that dominated Christian Europe for a thousand years.<\/p>\n

Finally, discounting the power of Islamic faith in the motive of the protesters is consistent with the bipartisan misreading of jihad that attributes its attractive power to thwarted economic or democratic goals, and that faults the West for allying with despots who serve our own interests rather than promoting those alleged democratic aims of the Muslim masses. Thus Kerry asserts that failing to aid the Libyan protesters \u201cwould ignore our real national security interests and help extend the narrative of resentment toward the US and much of the West that is rooted in colonialism and furthered by our own invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.\u201d Apart from once again blaming jihadism on alleged Western sins like \u201ccolonialism,\u201d this assertion is incoherent. For haven\u2019t those \u201cinvasions of Iraq and Afghanistan\u201d expended our blood and treasure in order to free Muslims from brutal dictators and autocrats, and to create for Muslims the democratic self-rule and political freedom that Kerry claims is their highest aim? Then why would those \u201cinvasions\u201d be seen as intolerable affronts to Muslims? Perhaps because freedom and democracy are not as important as the superiority of Islam and a Muslim\u00a0amour propre<\/em>\u00a0predicated on the Koranic estimation of Muslims as the divinely sanctioned \u201cbest of nations\u201d all others should follow?<\/p>\n

The Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu wrote, \u201cIf ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.\u201d Our delusions about Islam and the historical inevitability of our own socio-political order may add yet another example of Sun Tzu\u2019s sagacity.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a92011 Bruce S. Thornton<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Bruce S. Thornton Advancing a Free Society The dubious received wisdom rationalizing our current intervention in Libya was crystallized in Senator John Kerry\u2019s recent\u00a0essay\u00a0for\u00a0The Wall Street Journal. For Kerry, the rebels in Libya are the same as those in Egypt, \u201cpeacefully demanding freedom and dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[29,22],"tags":[366,192,91,177,1034,635,1035,1017,1062,1048,1043,1060,1016],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-SX","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2406,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/liberating-libya-for-jihadists\/","url_meta":{"origin":3407,"position":0},"title":"Liberating Libya for Jihadists","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton FrontPage Magazine The fall of Muammar Gaddafi is making some in the West giddy with the usual \u201cArab Spring\u201d wishful visions of democracy and freedom flourishing throughout the Muslim Middle East, even as the last binge of democratic intoxication, the fall of Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Libya"","block_context":{"text":"Libya","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/libya\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2545,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obamas-libya-venture-and-double-standards\/","url_meta":{"origin":3407,"position":1},"title":"Obama’s Libya Venture and Double Standards","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 10, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton FrontPage Magazine The champion of shameless chutzpah has always been the guy who murders his parents then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he\u2019s an orphan. But White House spokesman Jay Carney might be the new champ, given his response to the House\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Libya"","block_context":{"text":"Libya","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/libya\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6949,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/kerry-boasts-of-pluralistic-syria-once-assad-gone\/","url_meta":{"origin":3407,"position":2},"title":"Kerry Boasts of ‘Pluralistic’ Syria Once Assad Gone","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0RaymondIbrahim.com\u00a0 U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, was recently\u00a0interviewed\u00a0about Syria. \u00a0While many of his assertions can be debated, one especially requires a response. Throughout the interview, he repeatedly insisted that, if Bashar Assad would only leave power, everything would go well \u2014 especially for all of Syria\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Syria"","block_context":{"text":"Syria","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/syria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/11769416185_50193bfa40-300x240.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1429,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-arab-winter-approaches\/","url_meta":{"origin":3407,"position":3},"title":"The Arab Winter Approaches","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton Defining Ideas The revolutions against Arab autocracies \u2014 dubbed the \u201cArab Spring\u201d \u2014 have been greeted in America with bipartisan celebration. To President Obama, the uprising in Egypt reflected the yearning of Egyptians for \u201cthe same things that we all want: a better life for ourselves\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egypt"","block_context":{"text":"Egypt","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/egypt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3066,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-fog-of-revolution\/","url_meta":{"origin":3407,"position":4},"title":"The Fog of Revolution","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton Advancing a Free Society Apart from celebratory statements applauding what looks like to us democratic \u201cpeople\u2019s revolutions\u201d against tyrannous autocrats, the uprisings sweeping across the Muslim Middle East have created great uncertainty for policy-makers as they try to calculate a response. Like war, revolutions take place\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7582,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/lots-of-recent-man-caused-disasters\/","url_meta":{"origin":3407,"position":5},"title":"Lots of Recent Man-Caused Disasters","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online Even the administration is now considering some sort of overseas contingency operation to cope with an outbreak of workplace violence worldwide. Each morning it seems we read that Islamic killers of Boko Haram have kidnapped or slaughtered more children. Israel alleges Hamas\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The World"","block_context":{"text":"The World","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3407"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3407"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3408,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3407\/revisions\/3408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}