So long as the Middle East has no competitive religious landscape, it cannot join globalization in any meaningful way
Friday, June 12, 2009 at 2:09AM FRONT PAGE: "Mideast Christians Losing Numbers and Sway: Pope Says Extremism Is Aided by Loss of Diverse Beliefs," by Ethan Bronner, New York Times, 13 May 2009.
I would say the Pope hit it on the head.
The journalist's rendition, paraphrasing the Pontiff:
When the mix of beliefs and lifestyles goes down, orthodoxy rises, he said, as does uniformity of the cultural landscape in a region where tolerance is not an outstanding virtue.
This is Amsterdam 101 history: if you want to participate in trade, you have to promote religious tolerance and accept the accompanying diversity, meaning you trade with anyone. The Arab world continues down this path primarily by having extremely narrow connectivity with globalization--as in, it's all about the oil.
And a Middle East that cannot tolerate Christian minorities will never tolerate Muslim moderates either, so a very bad long term trend.
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