By Dr. Niaz Murtaza Until East Asia’s rise, white-majority countries monopolized progress, allowing white supremacists to claim race-based differences in IQs. However, scientific evidence quickly refuted this theory and soon no serious writer dared propound racist theories. Attention then shifted to the supposed superiority of Christianity, especially of the ‘Protestant ethic’, in facilitating progress. This theory receives some backing in the west even today, despite its weaknesses. First, there is an absence of rigorous empirical evidence. Sans evidence, proponents provide a selective, self-serving listing of teachings from different religions to show that Christianity encourages development-friendly attributes, such as hard work and risk-inclination, while others do not.  Thus, some argue that Islam discourages risk-taking and personal responsibility by propagating fate. However, like other Abrahamic religions, Islamic teachings about ultimate judgment based on worldly … Read entire article »