Sean Oliver Dee.Theos website. 2 October 2014
No other word is currently striking more fear into the minds of western leaders than ‘radicalisation’. We see the images of the beheadings, the angry mobs storming the Libyan embassy and we are afraid. It is natural; logical even. - See more at: http://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2014/09/19/how-do-we-prevent-radicalization#sthash.0QIW4DWU.dpuf
No other word is currently striking more fear into the minds of western leaders than ‘radicalisation’. We see the images of the beheadings, the angry mobs storming the Libyan embassy and we are afraid. It is natural; logical even. - See more at: http://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2014/09/19/how-do-we-prevent-radicalization#sthash.0QIW4DWU.dpuf
Noteworthy– “Secondly, there is a broad erosion of what might be termed the ‘liberal’ or ‘moderate’ centre across all faiths, including Christianity, as those who are desiring spiritual succour are cleaving all the harder to their faith perspectives in the face of an apparently all-pervasive secularising culture. Moreover, particularly for young people, studies conducted in the US and elsewhere have shown that the so-called ‘Millennial Generation’ are generally switched off politically, but more switched on to causes (like the environment for example), so anyone of that generation who takes up a cause (or causes) will do so with greater vigour than those of the previous few generations. Therefore, when it comes to faith, the same dynamic is in play.”
But the centre that is said to be eroding is not best termed ‘liberal’ or ‘moderate,’ although it is not illiberal or extreme. What is being lost is the confidence that faiths able to fully orient the self in postmodern societies can also be self-consciously supporting a common moral culture with other faiths. For example, American Jews have been among the very staunchest supporters of public education here, but even some Reform Jews now doubt that they share enough values with the broader public to entrust their children to any but Jewish educators. This is not suspicion of, say, Roman Catholicism– many Jews are graduated from Catholic schools– but rather doubt that those faiths and all the others with them are sustaining a space in which values and institutions are shared. Muslims can feel this as acutely as anyone else, and insofar as Islam has defined itself as a divine public space for values and institutions it would be surprising if no Muslims saw the erosion of common moral culture as confirmation of their traditional approach to pluralism. Perhaps the word we want is for the weakened centre is ‘consilient.’