06 August 2009

Islam and heresy - Where freedom is still at stake

Wanted: Islam’s Voltaire. To most Western ears, the very idea of punishing heresy conjures up a time four or five centuries ago, when Spanish inquisitors terrorised dissenters with the rack and Russian tsars would burn alive whole communities of ultra-traditionalist Old Believers. Most religions began as heresies. Today the concept of “heresy” still means something. [The Economist] Read more