Innovation and tragedy

When we first started learning about Islamic influences I had no idea just how far they stretched and how much of my day-to-day life has its beginnings in Islam. Everyday I use medicine, paper, complex mathmatetics and textiles. It has always been an assumption of mine that these goods and ideas were created by those who lived in the more Western regions of Europe and China.

I again stand corrected. I thought I had a good grasp on the past and where certain things came from but some everyday things just didn’t occur to me to ask whom, how and when they were made. It was quite interesting to watch the movie on Islam in class and to learn about the beginnings of so many things. When the video began I was in awe of all the developments that came from Islam and especially from Baghdad and the House of Wisdom. I had previously never learned any Islam history and all I knew about it was that they were Muslim. The scientific discoveries of that time, as I said before affect me everyday. The innovation that came with the far-reaching trade routes and systems allowed for trade of goods across the entire continent and merging of culture, goods, ideas, and religion. I thought that only good had come from this until I learned of the Crusades. I had only briefly heard about the Crusades, which now seems impossible to me that I had not learned more about these events before. I guess that comes from growing up in a Catholic home.

The video, with its cheesy remake and dramatic voice-overs really changed what I knew about history. The movie depicted the events in a way that the book could not, as a violent and totally unnecessary massacre. The events during the Crusades parallel what is going on now and I just can’t help but think that we will never learn what we need to from history, and we will always be bound to repeat events. Who knows what kinds of further innovations could have been created from some of the great minds in Islam if they had not been killed in Jerusalem. Now a days we can see some more great minds coming out of Islam, just like in the past there was soap, spices, fine goods, and knowledge, today we can credit them with further medical innovations, engine technology, and popular iPhone applications, which shows that the influence of Islam can be seen in the past, present, and the future.

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=islamic+inventions&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

In my opinion...

When the topic of Christianity came up in class I had thought I knew everything I wanted to know about the subject, which was not much at all, I stand corrected. When the topic started I had no idea where the religion originated from, much less that it had a similar developmental frame as Buddhism, a religion that is regarded today as so different from Christianity. The term salvation religion had been foreign to me, and seems like something lost in the past when looking at how religion is today and the amount of money that goes through churches. Churches in my hometown seem to compete to have the nicest buildings and the largest congregations. I can relate this now to the time when Constantine announced that he had converted to Christianity and money from the empire went into building great structures devoted to Christianity and spreading the word and the belief of the religion.

I feel that for some, in our times and in the time of Constantine and the formation of Christianity and other Universal religions, the true sense was somewhat lost. People felt more inclined to be part of a group then they felt a spiritual connection to the religion. I have noticed this in some, I am not saying all, people in Michigan who go to church and are motivated by an outside source. I feel that in the beginning they had it right, fighting for what they want and for what they believe in, no matter what beliefs. The closest I feel that we have come to the type of religious persecution in individuals in my generation would be political differences involving voting. Religious uprisings are present everyday in countries all over the world, causing wars and death, however it is sad to look at the US and see how this goes relatively unnoticed. I feel that people of my generation, the 20 something’s of the world in the US need to start believing in something if we ever hope to understand where the foundations of our society, religion, and culture come from.