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<p>I think Kurth would personally prefer to see stronger Christian social thought. However, I don’t think it gets in the way of his writing. He seems quite sanguine about the nature of contemporary Western culture. </p>
<p>Specifically, he thinks Bush was insane to think he could impose a Western cultural/political model on Iraq.</p>
<p>His description of China emerging as a liberal undemocracy also seems right on the mark.</p>
<p>The turf wars are way overblown. Shia Iran supports Sunni Hamas. Sunni Syria supports Shia Hezbollah. The bigger problem are the fragile dictatorships in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait contrasted with the robust quasi-democracy of Iran, and the fact that the U.S., which was universally revered in every Muslim country just 45 years ago, is now pretty universally reviled.</p>
<p>Something went wrong.</p>
<p>“I think Kurth would personally prefer to see stronger Christian social thought.”</p>
<p>See page 557. Kurth went much further than that.</p>
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<p>Now. Yes. But, allow the Shi’ite majority to wipe out the Sunnis in Iraq and all the sudden the Shia block of Iraq and Iran becomes a serious threat to the Sunni states of the middle east.</p>
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<p>It’s brutal in its Kissingeresque pragmatism. Kurth basically argues that the US should step aside and let them go at it.</p>
<p>It’s only acknowledging the realities on the ground. Our Sunni “allies”, primarily Saudi Arabia, are funding the killing in Iraq.</p>
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<p>What went wrong is that the US allowed itself to be a convenient “target” – an idea fostered by the dictatorships we support to deflect anger away from their own failures to address the needs of their people with economic growth extending beyond the ruling classes.</p>
<p>Of course the President of Iran finds it convenient to paint the US as the source of all evil. Otherwise, his people might hold him accountable for the dismal economic performance of his own country.</p>
<p>Off topic, but in googling him I found this interview:</p>
<p><a href=“Prof. James Kurth on Protestantism, American religion, theocracy, President Bush, Iraq war. - Beliefnet”>Prof. James Kurth on Protestantism, American religion, theocracy, President Bush, Iraq war. - Beliefnet;
<p>A very interesting guy. It’s nice to witness some diversity of thought at a place like Swarthmore!</p>
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<p>Actually, there has never NOT been diversity of thought at the country’s elite colleges. That’s been a strawman argument all along. Tenured elite college professors tend to be an opinionated bunch, with opinions all over the map.</p>
<p>BTW, Kurth is not only a Republican Evangelical professor at Swarthmore, but a very popular professor. His defense policy seminars are consistently over-subscribed and lotteried.</p>
<p>Ok, back to the original post…thank you…I’m fairly new and my D has applied to a summer program in Florence through Pepperdine, so thank you for the post, especially about how safe it sounds, my H biggest concern. Going to Florence will be a dream come true for D. Would love to hear any more adivise for a short stay…7 weeks… What not to miss! we hope she is accepted and gets the scholarship she applied for!</p>
<p>“Now. Yes. But, allow the Shi’ite majority to wipe out the Sunnis in Iraq and all the sudden the Shia block of Iraq and Iran becomes a serious threat to the Sunni states of the middle east.”</p>
<p>Iran is already a threat to Sunni states in the Middle East, not because it is Shia, but because it is an Islamic democracy that has held multiple elections over a thirty-year period, within an Islamic context provides a forum for a broad range of political opinions, and has its leaders voted in and voted out on a regular basis. This scares 'em to death! I wouldn’t choose to live there myself, but then a lot of Iranians wouldn’t choose to live here (and I have friends who have gone back.)</p>
<p>Sunnis and Shias have lived side by side in relative peace from Tunisia to Papua New Guinea, and all points in-between. They all go to Mecca. No one considers an Iranian Imam the equivalent of an “anti-Christ”, which is the way large swaths of Protestantism view the Papacy. The British (it’s ALWAYS the British) created this place called Iraq, with the usual policy of having a minority population ruling over a majority one (at least they didn’t measure the size of the bridges of noses, as the Belgians did in Rwanda-Burundi in the 1920s.) Post-British, the only possible rulership was by a secularist, western-looking political parties, known as the Baath. The rest is, shall we say, history. </p>
<p>“Going to Florence will be a dream come true for D. Would love to hear any more adivise for a short stay…7 weeks… What not to miss! we hope she is accepted and gets the scholarship she applied for!”</p>
<p>There is so much than can be done in 7 weeks. Of course, in the summer, it is crawling even more with tourists than the rest of the year (which is hard to believe.) But the tourism tradition is 400 years old! In summer, have her get a bike! and go from village to village and town to town (eating as she goes. ;)) </p>
<p>Florence is quite the center of things. By train, Milan and Venice are only 3 hours a way; Rome is 2 1/2 hours; Siena an hour and 20 minutes by bus; Pisa about an hour. Ravenna - 2 hours. (and then there is the coast!) Florence is a big city, and of course there are thieves who would love to prey on tourists, but, on the whole - and only from what I can tell, it is significantly safer than most major American cities.</p>
<p>Thanks, I will forward info to D! Sounds exciting!</p>
<p>Great to hear from you and how wonderful th experience is. Welcome back! Am looking forward to a similar trip next year as D wants to do semester in Germany and semester in Spain. Has to work out the logistics. Anyway, plan to meet her for Christmas there next year. BTW, I LOVED Florence when I was there many years ago. Am jealous about the trip to Vienna. Loved it, too, though Salzburg is my favorite. You’re right. Ah, to be young again, and seeing the world all anew! Happy New Year to you!</p>
<p>Well from mini’s description, I’m not so sure I want to go back, as I had always planned to do when my husband and I retire. One of the most beautiful things I remember about Italy when I spent a semester in Rome thirty-five years ago were the families who walked to church on Sundays with their children dressed beautifully for the occasion. Italy was still a very family and children oriented place back then. It personally saddens me that this is no longer the case, and to me parts of mini’s description seem quite grim.</p>
<p>I was in Rome 25 years ago and remember being shocked by Italians at Mass. They come and go as through the hour and talk loudly to one another during the service. Indeed, the priest is sort of mumbling to himself while they visit.</p>
<p>Even 25 years ago, the attendees at Mass were mostly old women, very few men. France was much the same.
Of course, we didn’t get to see some gardens in the countryside due to obscure religious holidays celebrated by entire towns with somber religious parades.</p>
<p>Americans are fervently religious compared to most of the world.</p>
<p>Welcome back Ellen and mini. apartments in Italy are so wonderful–aren’t they? I love the scial interaction in the community–and the food shopping!</p>
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<p>How that must have inconvenienced you, to be sure. What a perfect illustration of Professor Kurth’s thesis.</p>