I fully agree that progress in science and technology has, in general, made our life easy, comfortable, and longer. But I cannot completely agree that in every respect our ancestors were worse than us. A particular mention can be made of ancient literature to which revisit again and again as resources that cater to us even today. Rabindranath, for example, has used the ancient Indian mythologies profusely. Think about his Chitrangada (which promotes feminist view) basic story of which is rooted in the Mahabharata. Many ancient Greek plays in the original form are still great. You can come up with many such examples. Scientific and technological development is a cumulative process. It would have been impossible for an ancient scientist to invent, for example, rocket. But they did their best given the then situation in the field of science and technology although progress has been slowed many a time due to undue intervention by 'Church' and other influential discourses by thinkers like Aristotle.
Similarly many old religious teachings carry great values which are still valid today. Islam teaches, for examples, to treat the slaves with kindness. The Ramayan teaches that mother and motherland are superior to the heaven. Again, you can come up with many similar examples.
ISIS justifies the Koran to justify their actions--you said. But they are a tiny fraction of the entire Muslim world which is opposed to ISIS and Boko Haram's uncivilized beliefs and actions. How do you look at this inconsistency?
Finally let me say a few words on how much civilized we are today. Many people think that the fruits of the advancement in science and technology are being shared disproportionately. We are now more conscious as a citizen, nationally, ethnically, as per sexual orientation, economic class wise, and so on. Struggle has not ended yet. Now we probably spend more money to kill others. We have UNO, human rights charter, laws, courts, and police all of which are catering to different groups disproportionately. Definitely the days are gone when Aristotle thought the slaves had no soul and quality wise soul of a man was superior to that of a woman. Whatever is written in the scriptures is immaterial, state principles are based on universal human values although there are countries like Saudi Arabia which are not yet there.
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On Mar 9, 2015, at 12:33 PM, Mukto-Mona Writers' Corner charbak_bd@yahoo.com [mukto-mona] <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Mukto-Mona Writers' Corner has posted a new item, 'Why I Do Not Criticize the
Quran'
While I generally do not criticize any religious book, the generalized title
"Why I Do Not Criticize Religious Books", would be inappropriate for this
article. How is that? The answer would be that I have two major reasons for not
criticizing the Quran, but only one major reason for not criticizing the Bible,
the Gita, [...]
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https://mukto-mona.com/wordpress/?p=3562
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