(06-30-2025, 01:20 PM)flsprtsgod Wrote:

(06-29-2025, 09:33 PM)mikesez Wrote: Not that simple. Post-enlightenment Belgium raped the Congo, for instance. Post-enlightenment England created near genocidal famine conditions in both Ireland and Bengal. 
And no, it's not the US's job to reform Islam. Islam has already been reformed and enlightened a few times.  Look at the Alevis, the Sufis, or the Ibadis. 
Again, our CIA only breaks things. It could certainly infiltrate and disband some mosques but it won't be able to create a new Muslim movement.

Neither of those describe the enlightenment of the religions were discussing. And yes, we either destroy Islam, reform Islam, or it destroys us. There aren't any other realistic options.

Belgian actions in the Congo were particularly motivated by a Christian inspired zeal to end the slave trade and spread Christianity to the tribes there.

Skipping to an earlier part of history, the Jacobins and the Bonapartists weren't particularly Christian but they came out of both Christianity and the Enlightenment, causing millions of deaths as their ideas and their armies spread.

---