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# Posted 3:13 PM by Ariel David Adesnik

KESHER TALK: Judith Weiss of Kesher Talk raises a good point about my post on Iraqi fundamentalism. I wrote that a NYT

article [on fundamentalism] focuses on whether or not Paul Wolfowitz's ideological commitments have led him to assemble a team of secularist democrats who are out of touch with the profoundly religious Iraqi mainstream."

Judith asks

What profoundly religious Iraqi mainstream? I thought Iraq was always more secular and cosmopolitan than Syria, Jordan, Saudi, et al. and was on its way to democracy when the Baathists took over.

I don't know about Iraq ever having been "on its way to democracy", but it is definitely described quite often as one of the more secular Arab states. What is hard to know is what happened to Iraqi society over the past two and half decades, a time when Islamic fundamentalism swept over the Middle East and even that arch-secularist Saddam Hussein began to present himself as a religious figure.

One possibility is that younger Iraqis have become far more religious than their elders. For one perspective on this clash of generations, take a look at this NYT article that Judith sent my way.

Speaking more generally, the highly visible resurgence of Shi'ite devotion suggests that the people of Iraq are thirsting for spiritual liberation as well. But are spiritual liberation and political fundamentalism cut from the same cloth? I don't know and I suspect not. Thus, it may be correct to describe the Iraqi mainstream as "profoundly religious" without suggested that it is also anti-democratic.

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