Posted: Mar 31, 2016 9:30 pm
Sendraks wrote:Calilasseia wrote:The Islamic world hasn't yet had its full millennium of internecine warfare between different sects on the same scale, though there are definite signs that this is now beginning. When the Islamic world has had that millennium of internal slaughter, it might become as fed up with religion as the West became. But I suspect it'll take a millennium of murderous mayhem internally, before the Islamic world decides to embrace secularism.
I think the more telling thing is that whilst Islam does have its different sects which have variously attempted to murder and oppress each other throughout history, the religion hasn't experienced the sort of challenge to the religious leaders which Christianty experienced through Protestantism.
Which is going to be slightly more difficult to achieve, because last time I checked, Islam doesn't have its equivalent of the Pope. It's had internal tensions between the Sunni and Shia branches from very early on in its history, and hasn't had a monolithic absolute ruler of the sort that the Pope constituted within Christianity for the best part of a millennium. Each of the major branches will need their own analogue of the Reformation, if the parallel scenario you envisage is going to occur. As a consequence, I think it's more likely that increasing disgust with internecine warfare will be the principal factor, rather than any direct theological challenge of the sort Martin Luther provided as the launchpad for the Reformation.