Intelligent design may be the missing link to restoring relations between the Muslim world and the West. So argues Mr. Akyol in an exciting and, no doubt, provocative essay. Here's a preview:
That "revolutionized worldview" — in which God is denied, attacked, and ridiculed — is the grand problem we Muslims have with the West. It is true that some fanatics among us hate the West's liberty and democracy, too. Yet for the sane and pious Muslim majority, those are welcome attributes. This majority's only problem is the materialism that encompasses the West. And they would welcome those who would save the West — and thus the whole world — from it. That's why something called the Wedge Document — although horrifying to America's secularist intelligentsia — offers a message of hope for Muslims.
Read the full article here.
A secondary issue arising from Mr. Akyol's essay is a challenge to the often conservative assumption that Islam is at heart a brutal, demeaning, and violent religion. The existence of pious Muslims like Mr. Akyol who are not Islamo-facists argues that the Taliban or Wahabi Saudi Arabia are not the most accurate models of orthodox Islam. If this is the case, it would make taking sides with Muslims against materialism much more palatable for many members of the Right.
