[MD] Islam, Religion of Peace

[Khaled Alkotob]

[Steve]
> One thought I have about what motivates fundamentalism in religions  
>  is about how fundamentalism emerged in Christianity. There was no  
> conflict between reason and religion for most people before 
> evolution was made an issue with the Scope's trial. The embarrassment
of that  
> trial led to more explicit definition of Christian fundamentals 
> which forced people to make a choice between their faith and scientific
 
> evidence. So there is a collision with modernity that resulted in
fundamentalism.
>
You are right there but you also see a new brand of Christianity (
fundamental or not) coming out of this.
What you see now is nationalism intertwined with religion.

I heard a lecture by Reza Aslan. In it he mentioned how he told his
European colleagues about the pledge of allegiance that we do in this
country every morning and the playing of the national anthem before every
sporting events. They found odd and a little creepy. And when he would
ask them what does it mean to be German or Italian, they would be taken
back by the question. To them Nationality is the ethnic race, while in
this country, becoming an American and living the American dream is more
of an equal opportunity label.

Therefore, after the scopes trial, That brand of Christianity became the
national/ethnic identity. 

Khaled