From: Ramez Naam (mez@apexnano.com)
Date: Thu Feb 20 2003 - 13:15:15 MST
From: Lee Daniel Crocker [mailto:lee@piclab.com]
> Egypt has lots of problems, but one doesn't have to look
> too deeply to see the major problem that will always hound
> nations with a serious Muslim population: the prohibition of
> usury. So long as a large number of people in a country
> believe that it's immoral to loan money at interest, that
> country will never be economically relevant
Certainly a country that didn't allow loans would be at a major
economic disadvantage. However, I'm not aware of any such country.
Egyptians take out loans. They use credit cards. They have
mortgages. Debt-financing is not as common there as it is in the US,
but it's becoming more common as large-scale capitalism takes hold
there.
My understanding is that the rest of the arab world is fairly similar
in that regard.
I would note that the Bible clearly states the immorality of
contraception. Nevertheless, most westerners who identify as
Christian still use contraception.
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