War for the Terms of Modernity

[Valin]

Townhall:

Austin Bay

Nov 18, 2015

 

Last week's attack on Paris is the latest act of mass homicide and media grandstanding in the Islamist terrorists' long war for the terms of modernity. That name frames the fight as a multigenerational struggle with very basic cultural, political and historical stakes. War acknowledges the military dimension; "terms of modernity" indicates that the cultural struggles may be determinative.

 

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The terms of modernity in the free societies Bin Laden and his successors despise have historical roots; the Enlightenment and the Treaty of Westphalia are two significant examples. Enlightenment skepticism spurred scientific inquiry and technological success that spurred economic development.

 

After the disaster of the 30 Years War, Westphalia attempted to separate religion and politics. Catholic princes would tolerate Protestant subjects, and vice versa. It took a couple of centuries, but Europe and North America began producing societies that were experiments in "liberating reform"; they were political experiments permitting individual freedom of expression, which would include free expression of religious faith.

 

In contrast, violent Islamist utopian idealists only permit their expression of religious faith.

 

(Snip)