Bob Park: "I recommend to everyone the important and courageous guest editorial in today’s edition of Science". (August 9, 2008)

SCIENCE EDITORIAL: "SCIENCE IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES."
    I recommend to everyone the important and courageous guest editorial in today’s [August 8, 2008] edition of Science. The author, Ismail Serageldin, is director of the Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt. The Muslim world was the cradle of rationality and tolerance when medieval Europe was mired in the dark ages. Today the Muslim world is "driven by self-appointed guardians of religious correctness," Serageldin writes. "They increasingly force dissenting voices into silence and conformity with what they consider to be acceptable behavior." He calls on the scientific and academic communities in Muslim countries to challenge accepted views. And he points out that a similar battle rages in the U.S over evolution, and I would add, over contraception, and stem cell research.