Vinod does a great job describing what the Islamists are fightingfor. He quotes a recent Al Queada published book saying:
…The goal of democracy, according to Al-Ayyeri, is to “make Muslims love this world, forget the next world and abandon jihad.” If established in any Muslim country for a reasonably long time, democracy could lead to economic prosperity, which, in turn, would make Muslims “reluctant to die in martyrdom” in defense of their faith.
Question for western folks: Is Al Queada correct that economic prosperity and democracy cause secularism?
Given that the most secular cultures are the most infertile cultures (see last post), does this place limits on the overall rate of economic growth for human cultures?
Is economic growth sustainable in the face of declining population?
Some people suggest we can solve the declining growth problem with immigration, but we then face either the cost of acculturating and educating the immigrants and integrating them into our culture or we face an alien population that does not really replace the children lost to infertility.
Can we find ways to grow fast that don’t cause secularism and infertility?
Vinod then quotes Islamist author Sajjad Khan as saying:
…The Western viewpoint in life divorces societal actions in this life from the hereafter and therefore ignores any accountability after death. Therefore Western politicians judge actions they do in this life according to their own criteria usually the pursuit of material benefit, i.e. utilitarianism.
In this Khan is correct. So far, the best mechanism for internalizing public good producing behavior that we know of is religion. Given that child production is a public good, are the Islamists right to be alarmed about the threat Western Culture poses to their future generations?