Another bright and shining moment in Iran
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is pressing students to demand the purge of liberal and secular professors from Iran's universities. I suppose you can never get enough that good old time religion from the Koran if you live in Iran. Oh well, Iran was not high on my travel list anyway. Some interesting questions, however, present themselves.
I suspect that he won't be purging those scientists who happen to be handy with building nuclear technology. You don't want to throw out the baby with the bath water.
I suspect anyone who knows how to convert petro dollars into economic development will be somewhat secure in their positions. Iran has a high unemployment rate and suffers from economic underdevelopment given the amount cash sloshing around the country from oil sales. We know how unruly the unemployed can get even when they are treated to a heavy dose of solace and hope from the Koran.
I've got an idea. Let's take some of the cash sloshing around the US and create positions in US universities for Iranians. All dispossessed professors and students in Iran will be invited to attend our schools.
Then the US can thumb its nose at Iran and say, "good luck building your nuclear power plants and bombs from the instructions in the Koran."
Don't you just love religious fundamentalism during its most brilliant and shining moments?
posted by Lynn @ 12:02 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
It seems Fundamentalism is a religion unto itself, regardless of the practitioners' claims of representing a particular sect. Christian, Muslim, Hindi, Jew, it doesn't matter. In the end, the Fundamentalists across these sects share a common mind and brotherhood amoung themselves that's far more consistent than they do with the mainstream preactitioners of their professed sects.
epm –
I agree with that. We have a good example of it in the US in the form of the Christian Right. It is refreshing to see some evangelicals finally taking the extreme Christian Right to task.
A person such as me who is skeptical of most religious claims cannot convince a Christian that what they believe is not the teaching of Christ. It takes a Christian to convince an extremist he is wrong. The same thing goes for the importance of the separation of church and state. Destroying that separation is as dangerous for religion as it is for a pluralistic society and democratic government.
I have been a Christian and now I am a skeptic. It is more wearying being a skeptic than a Christian, at least for me. Sometimes I would like to say to some Christians, “why don’t you get off your ass and do something about these extremists in your midst instead of hoping the whole thing will go away.”
Post a Comment
<< Home