There are Muslim Extremists and Secular Extremists

As societies progress, so do their understandings of ethics. ....
Many countries have not reached this stage. This is either because of poor education, or because it has been stifled by a theocratic system, or both. They have not managed to look at morality as something which is based on pragmatic ethics.

"They have not managed to look at morality as something which is based on pragmatic ethics"


You have summed up the western approach. "Universal Values" is a millimetre away from "Might is Right", which is the most pragmatic of ethics.

Of course, people view morality differently depending on the society and culture, but morality is least full of contradictions when it is given an ethically pragmatic approach. If you don't agree with this, then I can only assume that you see no improvement in our approach to ethics since the beginning of the enlightenment. Cultural relativism is actually very conservative, as it encourages stagnation. It's like people such as yourself think progressiveness is for Western folks like ourselves, but not other cultures. A real "us and them" mentality.

Also, how do you explain the fact that in many countries that don't have stifling controls on opinion, and have improving economies and education, they're taking an increasingly pragmatic approach to ethics, regardless of whether they're "Western" or not?