A Poverty of Dignity and a Wealth of Rage

(New York Times) Thomas L. Friedman - Of course, not all Muslims are suicide bombers, but virtually all suicide bombers, of late, have been Sunni Muslims. There are a lot of angry people in the world, but the only ones who seem to feel entitled and motivated to kill themselves and totally innocent people, including other Muslims, over their anger are young Sunni radicals. Islam has a long tradition of tolerating other religions, but only on the basis of the supremacy of Islam, not equality with Islam. Sunni Islamic civilization is supposed to be superior, yet its decision to ban the reform and reinterpretation of Islam since the 12th century has choked the spirit of innovation out of Muslim lands, and left the Islamic world less powerful, less economically developed, and less technically advanced. When a British Muslim citizen, nurtured by that society, just indiscriminately blows up his neighbors and leaves behind a baby and pregnant wife, to me he has to be in the grip of a dangerous cult or preacher - dangerous to his faith community and to the world.


2005-07-15 00:00:00

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