“September 11 was a day of de-Enlightenment. Politics stood revealed as a veritable Walpurgis Night of the irrational. And such old, old stuff. The conflicts we now face or fear involve opposed geographical arenas, but also opposed centuries or even millennia. It is a landscape of ferocious anachronisms: nuclear jihad in the Indian subcontinent; the medieval agonism of Islam; the Bronze Age blunderings of the Middle East.” AgeFacesNightStuffMiddleCenturyConflictEnlightenmentIslamEastNuclearLandscapeIndianMiddle EastSeptemberIrrationalArenaMedievalSeptember 11JihadBronzeOld StuffAnachronism Author:Martin Amis
“Still - and for all Obama's heavy hinting to the contrary - Islam has no "human rights." The ideas of individual rights and the dignity of man are distinctly Western, an outgrowth of the Enlightenment. And while dialogue is dignified; dhimmitude is not, even if it achieves a desired, if temporary, effect.” IfsMenHumansStillsIdeasIndividualRightsAchieveEffectsEnlightenmentDignityIslamWesternHuman RightsHeavyContraryDialogueTemporaryIndividual Rights Author:Ilana Mercer
“During the centuries-long process of Reformation and Enlightenment, Christian churches had to accept some things they didn't like. Islam will have to do the same; otherwise it isn't part of Europe.” LongChristianProcessChurchAcceptingCenturyEnlightenmentEuropeIslamReformationChristian Church Author:Wolfgang Schauble
“Many spiritual teachers - in Buddhism, in Islam - have talked about first-hand experience of the world as an important part of the path to wisdom, to enlightenment.” WorldFirstsImportantHandsSpiritualPathTeacherBuddhismEnlightenmentIslamSpiritual TeachersFirst Hand Experience Author:Bell Hooks
“We who don't want radical Islam to spread must compete with the agents of radical Islam. I want to see what would happen if Christians, feminists and Enlightenment thinkers were to start proselytizing in the Muslim community.” IfsWantHappensChristianCommunityEnlightenmentIslamFeministSpreadAgentsRadicalThinkerRadical IslamProselytizingMuslim CommunityEnlightenment Thinkers Author:Ayaan Hirsi Ali
“I don't believe in hell and heaven anymore. Or angels. I think Islam is a superstition like every other superstition. But now because it's a superstition, unlike Christianity, that hasn't been tested and hasn't gone through a process of enlightenment, I think it's a dangerous superstition.” ThinkingBelieveHeavenProcessChristianityGoneHellDangerousEnlightenmentAngelIslamDon't BelieveSuperstitionsTestedHeaven And Hell Author:Ayaan Hirsi Ali
“There was this famous clash of civilization thesis from Samuel Huntington, a political theorist. And the idea was that Western civilization is at war with Islam and maybe some of the other civilizations around the world. And I don't agree with that. But I do think there is such a thing as Western civilization. I think it starts with the Greeks and the Romans. Then it goes through the Enlightenment - or the Reformation, the Enlightenment. It goes through the scientific age. And it somewhat defines some of the cultures and mores of Europe and North America and some other countries.” ThinkingWorldWarCountryAgePoliticalCultureEnlightenmentAgreeIslamWesternGreekClashThesis Author:David Brooks
“Muhammad brought down from heaven and put into the Koran not religious doctrines only, but political maxims, criminal and civil laws, and scientific theories. The Gospels on the other hand, deal only with the general relations between man and God and between man and man. Beyond that, they teach nothing and do not oblige people to believe anything. That alone, among a thousand reasons, is enough to show that Islam will not be able to hold its power long in ages of enlightenment and democracy, while Christianity is destined to reign in such ages, as in all others.” PeopleMenBelieveLongReasonEnoughShowsHandsAgeAbleLawPoliticalHeavenReligiousDealsChristianityTeachDemocracyTheoryThousandEnlightenmentRelationIslamCriminalsDoctrineReignDestinedMaximsMuhammadScientific TheoryAge Of Enlightenment Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
“And when your soul, the flame, the spark, meets with the divine fuel that is so pure and so strong, it results in immense enlightenment: the enlightenment of God. Light upon light, Noorun Alaa Noor.” SoulGodSpiritualSpiritualityDivineEnlightenmentIslamSufiMuslim Book:A Blessed Olive Tree: A Spiritual Journey in Twenty Short Stories Source: A Blessed Olive Tree: A Spiritual Journey in Twenty Short Stories
“So this is where all the vapid talk about the 'soul' of the universe is actually headed. Once the hard-won principles of reason and science have been discredited, the world will not pass into the hands of credulous herbivores who keep crystals by their sides and swoon over the poems of Khalil Gibran. The 'vacuum' will be invaded instead by determined fundamentalists of every stripe who already know the truth by means of revelation and who actually seek real and serious power in the here and now. One thinks of the painstaking, cloud-dispelling labor of British scientists from Isaac Newton to Joseph Priestley to Charles Darwin to Ernest Rutherford to Alan Turing and Francis Crick, much of it built upon the shoulders of Galileo and Copernicus, only to see it casually slandered by a moral and intellectual weakling from the usurping House of Hanover. An awful embarrassment awaits the British if they do not declare for a republic based on verifiable laws and principles, both political and scientific.” ReasonTruthLawScienceReligionUniversePoliticsPrinciplesAtheismEnlightenmentIslamStupidityBritainFundamentalismMonarchyNewtonSoulsRevelationCredulityScientistsDarwinRepublicanismCopernicusBritish Monarchy2010GalileoKhalil GibranTuringErnest RutherfordBritish Royal FamilyFrancis CrickHouse Of HanoverJoseph PriestleyBritish ScientistsCharles Prince Of Wales Author:Christopher Hitchens