From the Economist:
In any event, the terms of western academia's truce between the secular and religious are different from anything in the Muslim world. Nobody in a western university would argue for the truth of a statement on the sole ground that the Bible, or church tradition, asserted it. That may be good; but the resulting climate leaves no middle ground between naive fundamentalism and a secularism that refuses to engage with religious experience.
To which a secularist may ask, so what? Is there any reason why people who believe in none of the Abrahamic religions should follow their debates on how to read holy writ? In fact, there is. Take one example from Islam: Mr Luxenberg argues that the rewards the Koran promises to martyrs for their faith when they get to heaven is not "virgins" (72 of them) but a word that means "grapes" or "white fruit." In a world where suicide-bombers are urged on by delectable prizes, that is a translation that matters.
Perhaps if it was made clear to Osama Bin Laden that it's "grapes" and not "virgins," then he would order everyone of his men to beat their swords into ploughshares, and everything would be just swell.
I wouldn't count on it, though.
In any event, the terms of western academia's truce between the secular and religious are different from anything in the Muslim world. Nobody in a western university would argue for the truth of a statement on the sole ground that the Bible, or church tradition, asserted it. That may be good; but the resulting climate leaves no middle ground between naive fundamentalism and a secularism that refuses to engage with religious experience.
To which a secularist may ask, so what? Is there any reason why people who believe in none of the Abrahamic religions should follow their debates on how to read holy writ? In fact, there is. Take one example from Islam: Mr Luxenberg argues that the rewards the Koran promises to martyrs for their faith when they get to heaven is not "virgins" (72 of them) but a word that means "grapes" or "white fruit." In a world where suicide-bombers are urged on by delectable prizes, that is a translation that matters.
Perhaps if it was made clear to Osama Bin Laden that it's "grapes" and not "virgins," then he would order everyone of his men to beat their swords into ploughshares, and everything would be just swell.
I wouldn't count on it, though.
