It is precisely because Christian scriptural literalism lends itself to religious freedom, tolerance, and the dignity of women, that Western civilization developed the way it did.

And it is precisely because Islamic scriptural literalism is at odds with religious freedom, tolerance, and the dignity of women, that Islamic civilization developed the way it did. …

Islam’s reformation is well on its way, and yes, along the same lines of the Protestant Reformation — with a focus on scripture and a disregard for tradition — and for similar historic reasons (literacy, scriptural dissemination, etc.); But because the core teachings of the scriptures of Christianity and Islam markedly differ from one another, Islam’s reformation has naturally produced a civilization markedly different from the West.

The “Islamic reformation” some in the West are hoping for is really nothing less than an Islam without Islam — secularization not reformation; Muslims prioritizing secular, civic, and humanitarian laws over Allah’s law; a “reformation” that would slowly see the religion of Muhammad go into the dustbin of history. A better word for that would be “Enlightenment.”

[That point was made to me years ago, when many were anticipating an Islamic ‘reformation.’ The Christian ‘reformation’ didn’t create a new era of freedom, though; it merely created a schism in which both sides employed religious authority to stamp out what each saw as heresy. What observers really mean is that they want an Islamic ‘enlightenment,’ but we’ve actually seen that too — in Turkey and a handful of other Muslim-majority states. Unfortunately it hasn’t outlasted the ‘reformation’ in Turkey, at least not so far. — Ed]