>As I asked before, please name by name the one Islamic-run country that you consider (in your opinion) to be THE MOST 'advanced'. What is the name again? <s>

A game I'm not prepared to play - as you said earlier, we would just end up arguing about the definition of advanced. Every different culture will have it's good points & it's bad points, so whichever country I pick, I'm sure that you could find reasons why, from your point of view, that country was not advanced. Similarly though, I'm sure that someone living in that country could successfully argue that his country/culture is so much more advanced that America in it's final throes of "self-inflicted hedonistic overdose"

Somewhere recently I read an article that very eloquently put forward the view that "human rights" is a concept rooted in Westernised cultures & other cultures have a different set of ethics which are equally valid. I'll try & find a reference for you.