Western traditional Culture The bombers in London and the insurgents in Iraq may think that they are avenging themselves on Western Some in Washington， London and Tel Aviv may think that they are blocking the ambition of radical Muslims to create some marvelous new caliphate to rule the Both are The civilizations at war are modernity on the one hand and the traditional world on the The Islamic fundamentalists' terrorist attacks on the West are merely a sideshow - a bitter but doomed reaction to a war that modern society has already largely won， with liberals and conservatives united in their battle against the values， assumptions and mode of life of the vast majority of non-modern They Westerners believe they are creating， as Roger Cohen recently wrote in The International Herald Tribune， "a century that will make a diverse world more unified， prosperous and free than ever " The liberals and the conservatives of modern Western society firmly believe It is inconceivable to them that the traditional world， in which everyone except themselves lives， remains a valid choice for those who live in The modern world is the aggressor， determined - without even seriously thinking about it - to destroy the backward civilizations of everyone else， which it sees as discredited remnants of the To destroy them is Progress leads - where? Here they run into the problem of Utopia in a world dominated by religion is a reward for a worthy life， and is enjoyed in an It exists outside of Or after time has come to a stop， in a timeless
