a few thoughts on religion (no, it's not preachy)

I don't know why I thought about this yesterday while in the midst of celebrating two of my friends' wedding and the New Year, but I tend to get philosophical while seeing a large group of my friends at special occasions. Oh yeah, I'm a load of fun. We'll what I was thinking about is the concept of original sin. I studied Islam and the middle east in college (not as my major, but under the umbrella of a history degree). Islam doesn't acknowledge the concept of original sin and often uses that as a bludgeon against the other Abrahamic faiths. I don't know why they think that recognizing man's inherent imperfect nature is a negative, but that is their perogative. However, I believe that this belief has important consequences for the very Weltenschaung of Islam.
Islam shares a few strange characteristic of Marxism, but most notably the belief in the perfectibility of man (given the right environmental influences). The 18th century French philosopher Democratus is the first philosopher to postulate that if society were properly ordered, men would live in harmony with each other. All that was left to discover was that magic formula. Western philosophy has been overtly or subconsciously influenced by Christianity and the Bible since Constantine's conversion in the 4th century (one can make the case that pre-Christian Western philosophy also believed in in-born fallibility of men. See Prometheus). This philosophic tradition accepted that man was a fallen being, destined to toil, suffering and evil. Marxism and most streams of hard left thought reject this notion and reoriented man's longing for utopia from the after-life to here on earth. That is why Marxism and related strains of thought have led to mass upheavals of the society in which they acquired control. If one can create a perfect world, devoid of pain and longing, then any price to pay is justified. What is the death of one man in comparison to the abrogation of human misery? What is ten? Twenty?
Islam has retained the belief in the afterlife that Marxists reject, but they also believe in the earthy utopia (the best of both worlds). The time of the 7th century (western chronology), during the life of Muhammad and his immediate followers was considered not just a golden period, but as a time blessed with a perfectly ordered society where evil was destroyed and the spread of the armies of God's messenger seemed to bring peace and harmony throughout the world. Muslims still mark this time as the high point in human civilization and the present Wahabi/Salafi goal is the re-establishment of the caliphate and to finish the job that Charles Martel thwarted in 732. The utopian dream rests upon the bedrock of man's malleability and supposed innate desire to do good and live in harmony. The concept of original sin contradicts this belief and, sadly, leaves us with a much more depressing and cynical view of human nature. However, as distressing as this thought may be, history has proven it's veracity without a shadow of a doubt. I am not saying that the story of the Garden of Eden and the Temptation of Eve is true, but merely that the mindset that this story produces is much more realistic, and paradoxically, much more humane than the alternative.
As a final note, I am not saying that the 7th century was not a golden period for Islam and for that part of the world to a large extent. What I am saying is that the utopian dream runs deep within the heart of Islam as well as Marxism and that dream will compel men to do things that contradict their religion, their moral and ethical systems and their very humanity.