The September 11 attacks reveal the way many people consider religion and identity. Globalization has been the way to provoke an approach perceived as dismantling identities. However this notion is necessary for many humans. This idea is for instance reflected in religion.
Islamism is spreading everywhere nowadays. This approach stems from far : when colonial powers became middle powers, especially Great Britain and France, Islamic ideas began to develop again. For instance Sayyid Qutb invented the idea of offensive Jihad, while it is in principle only used when the community of believers is attacked. To this extend the ideas of spiritualism has to be tackled a proper way. In fact we can say that Islamism responds to this need for identity.
However this idea is far from the principle of the Islam of the Middle Age, which is the “reference” of the Islamic State for instance. Averroes, for instance, wanted to give to philosophy the right to be distinguished from theology ; with the Chiias, Sudra Mulla gave to the Imam the role of guide (the same as the philosopher in Plato’s Republic), but also wanted to focus on spirituality. Even if the idea of the Kalam looked more “formal” in proving the existence of God, and was opposed to the ideas of Moise Maïmonide to this extend, those ideas had a level of elaboration far beyond Islamism of today.
Reformative ideas like Al Afghani’s ones try to combine Islam and the modern world. This debate existed also in Judaism in the XVIIIth century on whether the traditional religion wanted to adapt or not to the modern world and the ideas of Enlightment. One of the reactions against it led to Hassidism, creating for instance the figure of the Tsaddik, that represent a figure that succeeds to integrate many versions of religion. That is the reason why we can say that the debate we live today is, in a way, very “classical”. Often leaders of traditionalism confront the views qualified as “progressists”. In the Catholic Church, it opposed for instance two brilliant theologians, Joseph Ratzinger and Hans Küng.
That is the reason why the area we live in marks the return of traditional contests, but with other forms. It is going beyond the rise of Islamism : for instance the rivalry of the United States and China looks to be the same as the one that opposed Athens and Sparte, or Germany and England in the end of the XIXth century. This context leads also to controversial figures : for instance Tariq Ramadan has often been accused of “double speech” in France. Personnally I didn’t see any proof of this, but I think that the way he talks about France and the French looks remote from the idea of dialog he is often advocating. Otherwise no great thinker emerged from this period, either from the “traditionalist” or from the “moderate” viewpoint. That is a sad reality that looks to confirm we live in a period of decadence and mediocrity.
It is sad we cannot inspire, in a way, from the confrontation of ideas there was between the Jesuits and the Reformative theologians (avoiding the dreadful war of religion contest). In the XVIIth century the theologian Tirso de Molina decided to found the Jesuit movement to be able to confront intellectually the Reformers. This confrontation lead to a great emulation, and contributed to create important movements of thinking. If it is important to consider that tolerance is detrimental in religions, and without proning confrontation, we can say that debates of ideas in a demanding and respectful way can lead to a better level of discussion. However the movement of Islamism today looks to emulate the most reactionary movements in Catholicism, Protestantism… that is a sad reality that must show moderate and progressive ideas should be more part in the debate.
In a conference, Tariq Ramadan talked about knowledge and engagement. Without following his ideas, the behaviour of acquiring more knowledge and giving energy is an adequate approach to defend moderate ideas. In my opinion it is sad that the most reactionary sides of Christianity prevail while the Christ was a great progressist : he defended an adulterian woman or let children talked for instance, that was revolutionary at this time. Christianism was also one of the father of the idea of the Human Rights, and this approach is too much neglected today. That is the reason why the idea of athlete of God, that Saint Paul represented, is adapted to the fact is looks necessary to be energetic to defend ideas that, in my opinion, really defend the spirit of Christianism, and that can apply to Judaism or Islam : the idea of dialog, of a demanding debate in a spirit of tolerance. However these ideas cannot be defended in one day : as the Koran says, “impatience comes from Satan and ponderation from God”. But it looks necessary to be optimist : as Hegel says in the reason in history, reason prevails in the long run, after a great deal periods of chaos and wars.
The observer 