This week, the Tory leadership candidates all committed to launching an independent inquiry into “Islamophobia” within their party. Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt must be careful not to walk into a trap.
Islam is now the second largest religion in Britain and the fastest growing faith in many of our cities. With nearly four million Muslims living across the country, what happens inside Islam and to its adherents has an impact on every one of us, religious or not. To ensure an easy integration of Muslims into British society and secular co-existence, we must be free to talk about Islam, indeed even be critical of certain Muslim practices. Such free discussion must not in any way be prevented because it has been labelled “Islamophobia”.
.... In Britain, we are citizens with both rights and responsibilities. Maimonides and Spinoza reformed Judaism, while Erasmus and Luther liberated Christianity from the clutches of the papacy. It is time for Muslims to follow in the footsteps of the great philosophers Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd, and free Muslims from religious bigotry and embrace reason and modernity.
Muslims are welcome in Britain, but as citizens and integrated patriots. Almost a thousand Muslims serve in Britain’s armed forces. This not China; Muslims are free to worship here. The desperate search for victimhood is not only wrong on its own terms, but prevents all of us from rejoicing in the liberties that surround us. [The Telegraph] Read more
