Until the advent of materialism and 19th c. dogma, Western Civilisation was superior to anything Islam had developed. Islam has not aided in the development of the modern world; in fact civilisation has only been created in spite of Islam. Proof of this resides in the 'modern' world and the unending political-economic and spiritual poverty of Muslim states and regions. Squatting on richer civilisations is not 'progress'. Islam is pagan, totalitarian, and irrational.
St. Thomas Aquinas [1225-1274] is the most important theologian within the Catholic Church and one of the most influential Western thinkers who ever lived. St. Thomas synthesized Christianity with many concepts of reason, naturalism, and Aristotelianism, using the elements of natural philosophy and reason to both support and deepen Christian doctrine. His mind was of the first class, his writings profound and difficult, yet his impact was lasting.
Little observed in the writings of St. Thomas is his view of the cult of Mecca, the moon cult of Muhammad or Submission, in which the individual must submit to the unknowable idol Allah, through Muhammad. This absurd doctrine of human worship in the guise of theology, has enslaved 1.6 billion in the modern world and effected a 1400 year Jihad against non-Moslems killing some 150 millions and enslaving at least a similar amount.
Aquinas on the cult of Islam:
1) Islam is a cult
… On the other hand, those who founded sects committed to erroneous doctrines proceeded in a way that is opposite to this [witness of signs, and God's wonders, and divers miracles]. The point is clear in the case of Muhammad.
2) Muhammad is evil
He seduced the people by promises of carnal pleasure to which the concupiscence of the flesh goads us. His teaching also contained precepts that were in conformity with his promises, and he gave free rein to carnal pleasure. In all this, as is not unexpected, he was obeyed by carnal men.
3) Muhammad was just a brigand and liar
...What is more, no wise men, men trained in things divine and human, believed in him from the beginning, Those who believed in him were brutal men and desert wanderers, utterly ignorant of all divine teaching, through whose numbers Muhammad forced others to become his followers by the violence of his arms.
4) Muhammad and the Koran are false
Nor do divine pronouncements on the part of preceding prophets offer him any witness. On the contrary, he perverts almost all the testimonies of the Old and New Testaments by making them into fabrications of his own, as can be. seen by anyone who examines his law.It was, therefore, a shrewd decision on his part to forbid his followers to read the Old and New Testaments, lest these books convict him of falsity.
5) There is no truth in Islam
...Indeed, the truths that he taught he mingled with many fables and with doctrines of the greatest falsity. He did not bring forth any signs produced in a supernatural way, which alone fittingly gives witness to divine inspiration; for a visible action that can be only divine reveals an invisibly inspired teacher of truth.
6) Islam is the doctrine of war
On the contrary, Muhammad said that he was sent in the power of his arms—which are signs not lacking even to robbers and tyrants.
7) Islam is a cult of witless fools
It
is thus clear that those who place any faith in his words believe
foolishly.
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All of the above are true.
From: St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274) Contra Gentiles, Book One, Chapter 6, Paragraph 4.