Intellectual Slump in the Muslim World

The United Kingdom government has banned the teaching of creationism in free schools and academies, during the same period a viral video circulated social media in which a Saudi cleric postulated the Earth to be flat. Another immediate example: The European Space Agency managed to put Philae on a one-km wide comet named 67P, with a speed of 135,00p km/h, after a 3,907-day-long journey to a location 500 million km away. It coincided with Islamic terrorists attacking four continents for "guaranteed place in heaven" by way of a leader's speech.

The advancement of modern humans has little to do with faith. For most Europeans the Bible is largely mythology. It contains some garbled history, some record of religious/tribal law, and some fables, but at this distance it has become mere myth. There are also points at which one can actually observe the myth-making in progress when comparing events recorded in the bible with the same events in history (the Book of Jeremiah is a fine example).

Teaching reality in the UK schools rather than magical fairies best illustrates the extent to which the Muslim world has fallen behind in the age of enlightenment. England did not begin as a non-theist country. What they did was, essentially, expel radical religious people and encourage environment conducive to enlightenment. Constant pressure, constant and relentless demonstration that evidence-based approaches work, and consistently rewarding such approaches is what seems to have worked in Europe.

To an outsider this societal approach may appear unobtainable but it's fairly easy to contrivance. A society or a community should be strong enough to be able to introspect and look within itself, accept any shortcoming and overcome those shortcomings through reform and progress. Such actions can only lead to a better outcome for not only the person's community and society but the for everyone at large. It precedes removal of ignorant clerics and lays the foundation for society accepting the importance of truth at which point children could be taught to think critically. Crux of the matter is religion is an impediment to human flourishing, and with regards to the uneducated clerics: You have two choices when you have a roadblock erected by religion; you can drive through it or stop and proceed no further. 

Emotional belief relies on unconvincing traditional beliefs. Fallacious presumptions take precedent over demonstrable facts. When presented with demonstrable facts the believers gumption straw-man and ad hominen attacks. They are following the flock without independent perspective which is how fanatics prefer and spread. A lack of diversity makes people think the majority view is the correct view, and therefore mandatory, view. The more you are exposed to a diversity of people the more the mind broadens and ceases thinking in absolutes.

Today we know "god" is impossible as defined by any major religion. Logically impossible. Any confirmation of the nature of "the creator of the universe" obtained from a book is ultimately derived from the imaginations of men. There is no "received" knowledge of any gods. They are anthropomorphic constructs invented by humans and bearing all the constraints and defects of human. There is zero evidence for the existence of any form of deity — but ample evidence for the creation by human beings of the gods we do have. Natural evolution is evident. Cosmic history is evident. God is evidently made up. We see evidence of a time before life, and then we see evidence of life. We see examples of molecules that, with the right components and under the right circumstances recombine into much more complex molecules. We see evidence of those components and circumstances on Earth a short time before there was anything we could call life.

If we teach children how primitive superstitions came to be around the world, they'll figure out that their religion is just one of them. If we teach them to think critically and rationally, they'll go to church/mosque and realize that the stories don't make any sense, that they can't be true, and that their holy book has to be cherry picked, and some amazing interpretational acrobatics have to take place so that they can extract any real morality from it. Teach them to be scientifically literate, and they'll come to understand evolution and natural history, and belief just won't be necessary any more. Teach them biology, physics, geology, anatomy. They don't need a lot of each one to get by, but the more they understand reality, the less likely they are to accept supernatural explanations for anything.  

The location of god changed throughout history; initially god was said to be living on the other side of the village, then the river, then the mountain, then above the clouds...now it's in the far corners of the universe or possibly in another universe. The exploration from tiny villages to continents and possibly beyond Earth chased gods farther, with cretinous arguments made for simplistic supposition of needing religion because we need to be controlled. This control alluded to is variable. Believers still find holes in science to support dogmatic assertions while denying the very foundations of science. The burden of proof they demand from science they will not demand from religion. This cognitive dissonance has become all too common.

Science and education are killing all religions. Right now it's the educated and strong who're leaving Islam in droves, and radical Islam heavily relies on the people being gullible as they are controlled by fear/deceit/threats (blasphemy laws). So Muslim clerics are rightfully concerned about the stagnation of Islam as becoming irrelevant by the day. Saudi clerics even now admit they're 'losing influence over the youth'. Sadly, we are all in for a very bumpy ride ahead due the aggressive nature of radical fundamentalists but inversely these hostile attacks lead some to devalue false beliefs.

The intellectual slump in the Muslim world incriminates the totalitarian regimes, the genocidal lunatic fringe, the Muslim apologists and the uneducated masses. The totalitarian regimes, for example the Saudi Royal family, use the fanatics as "useful idiots" through ideology to prolong their rule. The genocidal terrorists are told they are dying for virgin women. The apologists twist words, use half truths, deploy cultural relativism to stifle legitimate discussion about Islam. Making pointed efforts to conceal an emotional range and expressiveness to dis-incentivize any invigorating natural and instinctive habits of the intellectual centers of the mind which have atrophied over time. Tenured far-left ideologues provide maximum seductive impact for Muslim apologists' rhetoric with shaming terms like "Islamophobia" — how is it phobia when there is genuine security concern? They are essentially defending the indefensible by any means necessary unconcerned about spurring intellectual growth.

The uneducated masses use conspiracy theories and blaming the West as ego-protecting shields. Any scintilla for true intellectualism is shunned and debased in such environment of competing interests. Apropos the impotent rage-pouting deranged extremists, subject mutates into what Ibn Taymiyah said in the 12th century and glorifying backward jurisprudence. The insularity of mindless belief is betrayed by its own hive-mind corroding incantations. Think that most people are pretty much in agreement that the Quraan was taught by Mohammed to certain disciples/followers who learned it by heart, and translated it into written form decades after his death. Since this part was done by Arabic scholars there is nothing very remarkable about it being well-written. So whoever wrote it was highly literate. The scientific "facts" it contains are only so when interpreted as metaphor. This does not make a convincing case for a god of any kind. Not knowing is the preferred mode as many scientific errors found in the Quraan are even blocked online in the Muslim world.

Faith-based hypothetical exercise leaves little room for intellect. Deleteriously, impressionable Muslim minds misconstrue these age-old insular exchanges as credentialed intellectual stimulation.