Islam in a More Conservative Western World

Abstract

My findings are tentative and subject to further research. This presentation
rests on three paradoxes of great relevance to Muslims in the West.
The first paradox is that, from the point of views of Muslims in the West,
western secularism might be good news and western materialism might be
bad news. In other words, western secularism is perhaps a blessing in disguise
for Muslims, whereas western materialism is a curse. The second
paradox is that recent Republican, rather than Democratic, foreign policy
has been more friendly to Muslims, wherea Democratic, rather then
Republican, domestic policies are probably more friendly to Muslims. The
third paradox concerns the two Islams in the United States: indigenou and
immigrant. In the United States, western secularism has protected minority
religious groups by insisting on the separation of church and state. This
is as major reason why American Jews have been among the greatest
defenders of the separation of church and state, for any breach could lead
to the imposition of some practices of the religious majority, such as forcing
Jewish children to participate in Christian prayers at school.
The secular state permits religious minorities to practice their religions
in relative peace. Of course, like all doctrines, secularism has its fanatic
who sometimes want to degrade, rather than protect, the sacred. But at its
best, a secular state is a refuge of safety for minority religions. It is in this
sense that western secularism is a friend of Muslims living in the West.
But while secularism represents a divorce from formal religion, materialism
is a dilution of spirituality. One can be without a formal religion and
still be deeply spiritual in a humanistic sense. John Stuart Mill and Bertrand
Russell, for example, had no formal religion, yet each had deeply spiritual
values. Albert Schweitzer, the Nobel Laureate for Peace and an eventual
agnostic, remained deeply committed to the principle of reverence for life,
even to the extent of protecting the lives of insects in Africa ...