In the 300 years between 800-1100 Islam supported a culture of science, mathematics, art & learning like no other. Bagdad was the geographical centre of this enlightenment and scholars from all backgrounds and religions and nationalities were welcomed to share and contribute.
It is here that our modern 'Arabic' alphabet was borne as was advanced mathematics using the numeral "0" and decimal points. "Algerbra" & "Algorythm" are Arabic words as are the majoritory of the names of stars in the sky (the constellations are Roman & Greek, but the stars that form them have Arabic names)
Then in 12 Century an Islamic cleric called al-Gazahli begins preaching that mathematics is the work of the devil....and Islams' influence begins to decline.
The resurgence of religiousosity, psuedo-science & willful ignorance in western society today risks the very foundations on what our society was built on..science, maths & critical, evidence based theory.
With over 1Billion muslims in the world, they represent 0% of Nobel Prize winners (jews number just 15 million but make up over 1/4 of nobel prize recipients). A grand, enlightened culture was destroyed from within by religion.
The lesson for us is, ultimately it is not outside agencies we should be worried about destroying our nations and way of life. But our own laziness, ignorance and popularism.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BJW2lX4TPA[/youtube]
It is here that our modern 'Arabic' alphabet was borne as was advanced mathematics using the numeral "0" and decimal points. "Algerbra" & "Algorythm" are Arabic words as are the majoritory of the names of stars in the sky (the constellations are Roman & Greek, but the stars that form them have Arabic names)
Then in 12 Century an Islamic cleric called al-Gazahli begins preaching that mathematics is the work of the devil....and Islams' influence begins to decline.
The resurgence of religiousosity, psuedo-science & willful ignorance in western society today risks the very foundations on what our society was built on..science, maths & critical, evidence based theory.
With over 1Billion muslims in the world, they represent 0% of Nobel Prize winners (jews number just 15 million but make up over 1/4 of nobel prize recipients). A grand, enlightened culture was destroyed from within by religion.
The lesson for us is, ultimately it is not outside agencies we should be worried about destroying our nations and way of life. But our own laziness, ignorance and popularism.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BJW2lX4TPA[/youtube]
