In all fairness, part of the reason for some confusion surrounding this conversation probably has to do with my inconsistency in referring to the nebulous "values" we keep referring to. I've said "modern Western values," "Western values," "modern values," and "modernity" at different times. In general, I'm using them interchangeably; but that doesn't do away with the issue that "modern Western values" is likely a phrase that would interpreted differently by different people, and for perfectly sound reasons.
On one hand, we seem to be using "modern Western values" to refer to postwar liberalism in the U.S. (and in Europe to an extent). But a lot of historians would trace "modern Western values" back at least to the Enlightenment. Others might trace them to the Industrial Revolution, while others might say Dante's Divina Commedia and the Italian Renaissance. It's a very non-specific phrase that gets tossed about for sometimes vague purposes, and I'm guilty of that in this discussion. Dak originally used the phrase, but I haven't bothered to ask what it means.
Regardless of how we define it, my thoughts on Islam's compatibility still stand.
