The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #82753   Message #1521371
Posted By: artbrooks
13-Jul-05 - 06:59 PM
Thread Name: Explosions in London
Subject: RE: Explosions in London
Islam is a "younger" religion...

Well, of course it is. The Prophet lived and wrote in the latter half of the Sixth Century, while Christianity is basically a Fourth Century celebration of the life of someone who lived many years before.

I'm not sure if certain terms are being used entirely correctly. The Reformation was the break between what are now called the Protestant and the Catholic branches of Christianity, and the resulting wars were among the bloodiest in European history. (Read Luther's commentaries on the peasant revolts, for example.) This was hardly the first such schism; the earlier one between the Orthodox and Catholics still forms at least part of the wars in the Balkans. These are doctrinal disagreements and the Muslems have had their fair share. The Sunni and Shia have been at it for centuries, and Salafism/Wahabism opposes both of these. On the other hand, many Muslems do not allow their religion to control their lives and are as secular as many Western "Christians."

The Enlightenment was not a religious movement. Enlightenment thinkers, such as Descartes and Rousseau, rarely expressed themselves in religious terms and both the established (Catholic) church and the nascent Protestants generally opposed them.