A dancing Mohammed

It has come to attention recently that despite my wealth of knowledge on all topics of interest, my understanding of Islamic culture is rather lacking. While the greatest possibility for increasing knowledge lies with first hand experience, there are few Muslims with whom I have been able to interact. Unlike the vast majority of highly racialized uninformed Americans, I know that most Muslims bear no ill will towards our kind. Just as the radical conservatives are quickly tearing apart this country, it is the minority of radical Muslims who seek to harm. The difference between radical Christianity and Radical Islam is apparently minuscule, at best.

A serious question that has been posed in the past decade, is whether Democracy and Islam are essentially incompatible. One of the more informed articles on the subject can be found here.

Weber's conceptual framework of the Protestant work ethic was correct, however I fear that modernization is quickly becoming incompatible with conservative ideology. The expanding ease of reliable educational sources, i.e. Wikipedia, allows for greater relevant understanding of opposing cultures. While cultural relativism is at its core a great evil, acceptance is a key to future expansion. The basis of conservatism is unfortunately a form of intolerance. They only accept those who will abide the will of God, even though such laws are formed from the mouths of flawed humans.

Despite the rhetoric of acceptance, religion itself is mostly hypocritical. Do not take this rant as anti-religious, but rather as an understanding of pitfalls of such beliefs. There is nothing wrong about faith in God, but it is the religion formed around the faith that evils often arise.