memes

While I broadly agree with the view that debate was sometimes a part of religious institutions in the past, this changed dramatically in the 20th century, especially with regards to Islam, perhaps due to the fall of the Ottoman Empire. When is the last time you've heard of a madrassah teaching that homosexuality is natural? Not to be Muslim-phobic, I am aware if the rich history of debate and science in the Middle East, but the material conditions have changed now, conservatism has been on the rise since the 70s.

You speak of mahaviharas, but Buddhists I have met are just as conservative as the average religious person when it comes to women's rights, feminism and gay rights. Madrassahs were not 'open', even during the Islamic golden age. Even when Islam was less rigid, Mansoor al-Hallaj was executed for saying 'Ann-al-Haq', Omar Khayyam had to go on a pilgrimage to prove he was pious, al-Qadir ordered to kill every Mu'tazilite in Baghdad and no doubt there are countless other stories of persecution. That rational thought survived when people were religious is hardly to the credit of religion, and even in periods of prosperity when religious institutions weren't on the defensive, such things happened anyway and under the sanction of religion. As long as religion is under an institution, it is the nature of institutions to cling to power and hence, suppress dissent.