undefined | Better HN

0 pointsYeGoblynQueenne9y ago0 comments

- religiously, Nigeria is >50% Muslim.

You know, I might be misreading this but I think you mean Western society is, by contrast, Christian.

The West has made a big todo about being secular on a national level, regardless of what the population believes or does not believe. In some countries, the people are also largely a-religious. There's culture war, check, but to say that a nation's religion plays any role in whether it belongs to the West or not is, dunno. Dangerous?

I don't disagree that in the past cultural lines were drawn along religion, but, surely we 've come a bit of way since? Maybe not if you look at current wars, but still: is that really, really what we think the West means? An alliance of Christian nations?

'Cause that, like, sucks.

0 comments

dalke9y ago

You are misreading. Do you say that Japan and S. Korea are part of the West? Certainly "Westernized", but not "West", given the different history and cultural traditions. One example is religious differences like Shintoism, but there are many others.

I believe the argument is that Nigeria should be seen the same way. While Westernized, to place it under the category "West" also serves to minimize its own long historical and cultural history which is independent of the European tradition.

If you say that Japan is part of the West, then I can agree that Nigeria could also be part of the West, but disagree that it's a useful categorization. We have other terms, like "industrialized", which are less culturally burdened.

Otherwise, Nigeria is not part of the West in the same way that Japan is not part of the West.

s_m_t9y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_world

>The concept of the Western part of the earth has its roots in Greco-Roman civilization in Europe, and the advent of Christianity.[2][3][4][5][6] In the modern era, Western culture has been heavily influenced by the traditions of the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, Age of Enlightenment—and shaped by the expansive colonialism of the 15th-20th centuries. Before the Cold War era, the traditional Western viewpoint identified Western Civilization with the Western Christian (Catholic-Protestant) countries and culture.

>Christianity remains the dominant religion in the Western world, where 70% are Christians.[38]

Lordarminius9y ago

I fail to see why YeGoblynQueene is being downvoted. I was under the impression that the downvote button was to be used for posts that do not contribute to the discussion or are inflammatory etc. His contribution is relevant despite being wrong.

In the climate of political correctness many truths get swept under the table. The west IS Christian in outlook and structure. Its laws, mores,history are all derived from a Greco-Roman tradition filtered through a sieve of Christianity. It may be that some people wish to change the outlook to a philosophy of secularism but note that even this opposition bases its attack against a religous 'enemy'.

Bertrand Russells book -A History of Western Civilization should make very clear to anyone where certain ideas are derived from.

And yes. It may suck to you but the fact is that the perception of westerners is as an alliance of (lapsed!) Christian Nations.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse