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I would guess that Islam have no issues with good science, right?

In my opinion, blaming religion for any decline of science is completely accepted even if there's no direct correlation between both, which is very bad because it's creates a false believe that religious people aren't educated.




There's nothing inherently wrong with being religious, I think the major problem is fundamentalism: if you consider your Holy Book (be it the Koran, the Bible or whatever else), or even more commonly a narrow interpretation of it, as the single source of truth and condemn all who deviate from it, that's a recipe for stagnation. That happened in Europe in the Middle Ages, and it's happening in the Arabic world now.


You are right and you are wrong. What’s happening in the Arabic world is far from this. What’s happening in the Arab world is a continuation of existing European and US foreign policy which seeks to maintain the low cost of energy by ensuring that the Middle East remains subjugated. It has to be the entire Middle East to ensure that those Saudis never look up and demand to be free. Instead they keep pumping that oil and selling it on the global market.


> That happened in Europe in the Middle Ages...

This is a common misconception - the church was fundamental to the development of the scientific methods, and a long list of scientific contributors were men(and was almost exclusively men) of faith[1]. To do ground-breaking science, you had to have free time and this meant you had to be independently wealthy, or had benefactor (e.g. church) sponsor your upkeep. I suspect clergy and peerage are overrepresented in science because everyone else had to work the fields (or boats) and upward mobility wasn't yet a thing.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Catholic_clergy_scient...


Islam has no issues with good science. On the contrary, the Quran has some verses which encourage enquiry, such as:

"Say: 'Travel through the earth, and reflect on how he [god] started the creation." - 20 Al-'Ankabut.


> Islam has no issues with good science

As long as it does not come in form of satiric cartoons, it seems...

Free speech without blasphemy laws, and being able to express new ideas or discuss new points of view without fearing to lose your life by that, is -absolutely- essential for having good science.


Tell me, what do cartoons have to do with good science?

The whole point of Islam being against people in artwork, is to reduce egoism and superficiality. To not put anyone on a pedestal. Sure, it’s quite an extreme take, however...

Would you disagree that this is an issue in modern society? Selfies and social media perception above real life?

Not saying I agree in any absolute fashion with “no people in art” etc, but to argue in bad faith against Islam’s scientific position is just obtuse and argumentative. There is merit there.

And of course, this should go without saying but sadly cannot: extremist Muslims who commit violence in the name of these beliefs are horrible and wrong and guess what - not actually considered to be “good Muslims” by any true good Muslims out there, who value their fellow humans as also prescribed by their faith.


It depends on what do you mean by Islam.

If you mean that some muslims won't accept some scientific results because of their islamic beliefs, then you are very much correct.

I would even say that some Quranic verses don't sound scientific at all, but it is somehow complex to judge it, since it is not intended to be a science book.

Anyway, this is far from my point. My point is the US wants the situation to be like that, period.




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