@Phedippedes:
Obviously, you have a point. But that is more of a political discussion, in a way, than what is being discussed presently.
While no group should be held above another, there is probably a reason for why other groups uphold the virtues that we are supposed to be disgusted with. Let's take, for example, Germany after and during World War 2. During this time, the National Socialist German Workers' Party built up patriotic fervor by convincing the people that they had been taken from a decadent, first-rate civilization down to the bottom where they're a second player, or are in some other position. Do you suggest that, rather than correcting this grievous error on humanity's part, we should have Western civilization take pride in our own horrendous actions (again, I am not saying other nations should take pride in their own either). No one group is innocent from such things; no one can deny this.
This ideology of defeated peoples is quite simple: what do you do when you've been soundly defeated by someone else? You wish for days gone by, because it helps cope with the cultural shock of your own undoing, more often than not.
This is why ancestors are, in certain places, glorified or even worshipped. The people have either been treated so bad or they've been wiped out to the point, that they start looking back and saying, 'Well, it was tons better when we were one of the best.'
This is why, as I've stated, that until primarily Muslim countries begin to get more prosperous and aren't third-world, they will begin to adopt more Western ways of thinking about their ancestors' actions (or at least I hope they will). Right now, they have the ideologies of all wounded nations or peoples: obviously what happened yesterday was better than today. These people get fed myths of the glorious Muslim empires that were, as we have noted, truly were one of the most advanced nations in the world once (the Ottoman empire during the 17th century). To them, it sounds oh so much better than the grim reality to that is around them. Steep yourself in such stories, and it is easy for madmen to exploit these and gain power.
I normally stay out of this area of the site and the one for fundamentalists, and maybe I'm somewhat ignorant as to what goes on here, but I'd generally think that even if Darth Vader had some things about Christians, he surely would have been reported too. As for such empires...you are aware you may be 'civilized' in other ways rather than human rights, correct? It should not be this way, but it's true. This includes such things as national income, level of literacy rate among the population, etc.
