Ivy league professor lecture focuses on Middle East issues

Wednesday night, Professor Bernard Lewis, a worldwide authority on the Middle East, gave a free lecture at IU on the historical problems with Muslims in the Middle East.\nLewis, the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies Emeritus at Princeton University, visited IU as the Simona and Hart Hasten Visiting Fellow in Jewish Studies. The author, in his mid-eighties, has written over two dozen books which have been translated in over 17 languages. Lewis, originally from London, is probably best known for his recent book What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response, which attracted particular attention since it was published soon after Sept. 11, 2002. As a result, the book is an international best-seller and Lewis has been sought after to speak on the Middle East.\nLewis opened his lecture with his main historical event which shows why the Middle East has been so volatile and what has caused tensions between Christianity and Islam: the battle between Austria and the Ottoman Empire.\n"The debate continues with increasing urgency though the 18th, 19th, 20th and now 21st centuries," Lewis said. "And it all stemmed from the defeat of Vienna."\nAlthough Muslims and Christians fought war after war, the downfall of Vienna, Austria in 1699 marked the first time the Muslims sustained a significant loss, Lewis said. This was a turning point in which power fell into the hands of the Christians. \nOne reason Lewis cited as a cause for so much religious feuding is the structure of both Christianity and Islam. Lewis says their inability to accept one another's religions has led them to their current conflicts.\n"Just as man has created different languages to talk to one another, man has created different religions to talk to God," Lewis said. "Relativists believe the righteous of all people have a place in the afterlife."\nMuslims and Christians do not share those sentiments, Lewis said.\n"In essence, 'I'm right. You're wrong. Goodbye!'" he said.\nLewis went to discuss how despite efforts to promote tolerance, Western societies have cut themselves from Islamic worlds. \n"If you think about it, tolerance is a very intolerant idea," Lewis said. "It says that I will accept you based on my terms, based on laws that I set down. That is not very tolerant, but it sure as heck beats intolerant."\nLewis also discussed how economically and socially the Islamic nations have been behind the rest of the world. He cited that other than oil, the entire exports of the Middle East are less than those of Finland, all the books translated into Arabic are one-fifth of the books translated into Greek, and all the Gross National Products of all the Middle Eastern countries combined are less than that of Spain. "And Spain's not even that great of a country," Lewis said. \n"A major reason why the Middle East has lagged behind Western ways lies in their inability to create effective governments," Lewis said. \nUpon visiting Europe, many Muslims decided Western democracy was the way to go. \n"Constitutions and Parliaments made a nation healthy, wealthy and strong," Lewis said. "So, many Muslims saw this as the West's secret."\nHe cites many nations such as Tunisia, Egypt and then Turkey all attempting to form Democracies, but all failed. \n"These are people not capable of democracy," Lewis said. "The only European model of government that will work in the Middle East is the fascist Nazi model which is very discouraging."\nLewis concluded his presentation with his opinion on the current government in Iraq. He said democracy is not very probable in the Middle East, but he feels Iraq is one of the better places for it to occur.\n"Iraq has a strong educational system and anywhere where people are educated, change can exist"