Islam in Canada: Times Call for a More Profound Conversation
Letter to the Globe and Mail | July 7, 2011
Re: Islam in Canada
Unlike so many other publications in various jurisdictions around the world, your paper is doing something that others are failing to do: speak the truth, no matter how uncomfortable or unpopular it may be.
Eliminating the visibility of Islam – a religion and culture that is severely misunderstood – is nowadays the direction that is being adopted in many Western democracies.
Passing undemocratic and anti-pluralistic legislation, restricting the building of mosques and minarets, allowing vile political expression to go unchallenged, and promoting academic racism does not make Western societies anymore safer, democratic, or just.
If we set aside all the nonsensical academic and political noise, the question with regard to Muslims living in the West becomes: do we want to continue to build a diverse and pluralistic society? If the answer is yes – which seems to be the general consensus – then there cannot be a set of political, social, and legal requirements for one minority group and not others.
The global village is indeed upon us. Muslims, like other religions and cultures are already a part of Western life. The times call for a more profound conversation – a second Enlightenment – that aims to find solutions that accommodate all kinds of differences in our contemporary societies.
Thank you for contributing to a discussion that is free from the marginal and reactionary opinions that exist at both extremes of this debate.
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Published version of my letter in the Globe and Mail can be read here.