Religion and Politics in the Islam World

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/muslim-rage-over-film-echoes-back-to-islams-internal-struggles/2012/09/16/774c8b44-0038-11e2-bbf0-e33b4ee2f0e8_story.html

One of the themes repeated in this article is that the cause of the recent attacks on Western embassies in the Middle East and Arab Africa is not only due to anti-Americanism or anti-Western sentiments. Nor is it strictly in response to the video portraying Mohammed in a negative manner. Rather, the riots and subsequent anti-Americanism in these Muslim states was caused by a combination of social, political, and religious factors. I think it is important to recognize that there is an eclectic array of causes to this dilemma, and in reality any international problem in general.

Another subtlety in this article came at the end when it stated that in Iran there are "state-organized" demonstrations against the United States. I don't think this article highlights that fact enough. This is why Iran should be our foremost concern on the international level. In Kashmir, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, and every other place where there was an attack on an embassy or riots, the actions were not state-sponsored. They were groups of extremists or isolated groups of protesters that didn't have an affiliation with a particular state. In most cases, the states actually used police forces against those rioting.

Lastly, I would like to say that while I read this article I thought of the separation of church and state. At the national level, it is possible to seperate the two, albeit difficult. At the international level however, it is an impossibility to separate the two due to the anarchic nature of world politics. I think as westerners we have a hard time realizing this. We expect the international scene to look like our own, a scene where religion and politics are not tightly intertwined.

Jon Kingzette