Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.
Display:
Greek democratic heritage ? You mean the greeks that reinvented the divinity of rulers after Alexander and passed it to the Romans ?

Greek philosophy was kept alive in Arab (and persian) lands for centuries before they communicated it to the Europeans in time for the Renaissance.

Secularism ? See Turkey, and a fair share of the Arab world was ready to secularize 50 years ago. Except the people willing to secularize were commies, so the west funded the religious fundies.

Treatment of women? 30 years ago a wife couldn't open her own bank account without the husband agreeing, in France.

Most of the Arab and muslim world is undergoing a fundamentalist propaganda campaign funded by Saoudian oil. If a similar amount of money was poured into religious organisations in the West, it would very quickly unsecularise.

I'm not sure about 400 years ago, but

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Fri Mar 30th, 2007 at 09:16:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Historical perspective.  Facts.  Reason.  How refreshing.  How unusual.
by cambridgemac on Sat Mar 31st, 2007 at 11:59:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Display:

Occasional Series