Revolution and religion
Kyrgystan; An interesting little country in central Asia.
They just rose up and overthrew their government. Popular revolutions are becoming quit the common thing, especially in the former Soviet Union. Seems like the populace in those countries have finally realized that the old Soviet elite that took over from the Soviet leadership in those countries really wasn't as nice as they had originally thought.
So what does religion have to do with this? Well, i'm not sure myself, but Kyrgystan is the first Muslim dominated former Soviet republic to have such a popular uprising (i am overlooking Chechnya here, because that is still part of Russia and the revolutionaries there have stained themselves with horrendous terrorist activities, something that cannot be condened evenb if the Russian military used exessive measures in Chechnya). In other countries, like Azerbijan, opposition movements have not been able to put up much of a fight against the established powers.
I do not know what the inclinations of the new government in that country is. Kyrgystan has been viewed by some as being a potential hotbed for Islamist extremism, so one will have to watch matters closely until things settle over there.
With Islam so deeply embedded in people's every thought and action in most of the Muslim world, i personally do not see how a popular revolution can succeed without catering to these religious sentiments. If one has to lead the people, one has to cater to their beliefs. The situation in the Middle East is the same. I really cannot imagine a secular revolution in any Muslim country. I don't even think the average Arab knows the meaning of the world secularism. They are still struggling with the word Liberalism. The Arab press is full of opinions that equate liberalism with athiesm and many of the more conservative, and thus usually paranoid, Arab voices equate democracy with liberalism.
Thus is you are an Arab and call for democracy and/or liberalism in your country, you must be a godless athiest.
Humm, i wonder what they would do if they heard of agnosticism?
They just rose up and overthrew their government. Popular revolutions are becoming quit the common thing, especially in the former Soviet Union. Seems like the populace in those countries have finally realized that the old Soviet elite that took over from the Soviet leadership in those countries really wasn't as nice as they had originally thought.
So what does religion have to do with this? Well, i'm not sure myself, but Kyrgystan is the first Muslim dominated former Soviet republic to have such a popular uprising (i am overlooking Chechnya here, because that is still part of Russia and the revolutionaries there have stained themselves with horrendous terrorist activities, something that cannot be condened evenb if the Russian military used exessive measures in Chechnya). In other countries, like Azerbijan, opposition movements have not been able to put up much of a fight against the established powers.
I do not know what the inclinations of the new government in that country is. Kyrgystan has been viewed by some as being a potential hotbed for Islamist extremism, so one will have to watch matters closely until things settle over there.
With Islam so deeply embedded in people's every thought and action in most of the Muslim world, i personally do not see how a popular revolution can succeed without catering to these religious sentiments. If one has to lead the people, one has to cater to their beliefs. The situation in the Middle East is the same. I really cannot imagine a secular revolution in any Muslim country. I don't even think the average Arab knows the meaning of the world secularism. They are still struggling with the word Liberalism. The Arab press is full of opinions that equate liberalism with athiesm and many of the more conservative, and thus usually paranoid, Arab voices equate democracy with liberalism.
Thus is you are an Arab and call for democracy and/or liberalism in your country, you must be a godless athiest.
Humm, i wonder what they would do if they heard of agnosticism?
posted by Caliph at 10:57 AM
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