Why the devout Islamic world ignores what the secular West says

Dr. Stanley Fish has an opinionator column in the NY Times that has direct implications for formulating an effective policy by Western governments for dealing with the Islamic nations. It's time for us to recognize the arrogance of our assumption that grounding law and social policy in secular reasoning is somehow an inately superior way of ordering society than a theocracy. Our illogical fear of a religious framework for governance keeps us from entering fruitful conversation with devout Muslims around topics of fundamental human rights. As Fish's essay points out the underlying basis for our support for many of the basic freedoms we enjoy doesn't lie in pure secular reason. Initially, one can argue, they came from a shared moral (yes, religious!) conviction. A common acceptance of certain Judeo-Christian precepts as being universally True and of ultimate value was the unspoken foundation for the West developing these societal norms. It is precisely because they are now norms shared across the religious and non-religious landscape of Western societies that has freed them from the necessity of being rooted in religious moral convictions. It's time to stop trying to force devout Muslims to engage in the intellectual charade we play in the West. A devout Islamic theocracy is not inherently jihadist. By demanding a divorce between politics and religion in Islamic nations we undermine those who share our values. We are playing into the hands of the Islamist jihadists.