[Vision2020] More on Muslim Contributions to Europe

[Nick Gier]

Greetings:

My good friend Ghazi reminded me the role of Medieval Islam was not merely 
as transmitter of Greek philosophy and science, but also innovator.  So 
I've edited and added to the essay that I posted.

"In rejecting the charge of racism, Wilson claimed that it was 
Christianity, not genes, that make a culture superior. He said that if 
Christianity had moved south instead of west, Africans would now be the 
most advanced people in the world.
One might ask how Wilson defines cultural superiority. If it is economic 
power, then Euro-Americans will be overtaken by Chinese and Indians in 
20-30 years. If it is moral superiority, how does Wilson explain that fact 
that Christian America now imprisons 2 million people, while the Japanese 
currently incarcerate 150,000, if you adjust for population. We will be 
militarily superior for a long time, but I remember Jesus saying that we 
should be as little children when we come to him.
History appears to disconfirm Wilson's view of Christianity's special 
advantage. Medieval Europe is Wilson's ideal world, but the rest of the 
civilized world at that time--China, India, and the Islamic countries--was 
far more advanced than these Europeans. In fact, if it had not been Mongols 
bringing Asian goods/inventions and the Muslims preserving Greek 
philosophy/science and introducing algebra, Europe would have remained 
stagnant.
Wilson has the Mongols to thank for the pants he wears, and he should be 
grateful to the Hindus for the zero. The Mongols were the source of the 
gunpowder that Wilson's hero Robert E. Lee used against the Union Army. 
Furthermore, it would be very difficult for Wilson to count his book 
royalties with Roman numerals.  We live in one great world culture in which 
all people contribute. Even the wisdom of the Bible is based on many Middle 
Eastern cultures."

Nick Gier

"The god you worship is the god you deserve."

~~ Joseph Campbell

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