How Politics Has Poisoned Islam
By Mustafa Akyol Feb. 3, 2016 (LINK to article)
Until modern times, religion, i.e. its priesthood, served the state as a source of knowledgeable and moral authority. William the Bastard of Normandy made sure he had the Pope's approval, before embarking on his invasion and subjugation of the English in 1066. In return, he massively supported the Church, so it was a good deal for both parties, but not so much for the English, who suffered under the Norman yoke for centuries, one might even argue, to this day.
The state has to legitimise itself and it was to the moral authority of religion that it turned. This is still the case, it seems, in the Muslim world, although brute force clearly also continues to play a big role.
In the West, brute force and the authority of priests are no longer considered acceptable. The state looks instead to a secular priesthood of academics, who base their authority not on sacred scripture, as in the past, but on their claim to possess objective facts, reason and rationality. Only, their facts, reason and rationality are not nearly as sound or objective as they would have us - and themselves, no doubt - believe they are.
This is because, largely in overreaction to Nazism, a previous generation of academics made a taboo of viewing their own species, society and civilisation from a human-evolutionary perspective, which is the only way to develop a realistic understanding of these things and of our own situation. See BLOG in which I elaborate.
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