The Decentralization of Islam

I was reading a bit about the decline of newspapers suggested by Instapundit and came across this thought:

The cultural change taking place with regard to information amounts to a decentralization of power. Steve Greenhut of The Orange County Register in Southern California put it nicely when he wrote that "this is the equivalent of the Protestant Reformation for the media, where every man can become his own pope, or in this case his own publisher."

And it got me to thinking. What is wrong with Islam is that the arbiters of the religion have not sufficiently devolved. Islam still has too many popes. Or not enough.

When it is up to each individual to determine what the proper practice of Islam is with no other individual able to do anything except complain (no death fatwas etc.). Then Islam will be a modern religion.

Even Catholics in America go carte blanche. The Jews certainly have the option of which and how the law is to be followed. Morality is up to the individual. I discussed the foundation of that in: Tribalism. Jews gave up the power of the state to enforce moral codes (except for universal ones - murder, theft, etc.) when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple. Christianity lost that power in the religious wars of the 1600s.

Islam if it is to survive must be next.

How does Islam move to the point where it is to where it ought to be? Very good question.