This research is crucial to understanding the modern political and religious climate surrounding radical Islam. Islam is currently going through trials and tribulations and posed with the ultimate question of pluralism. Christianity seemed to to go through this crucible in the seventeenth century with the Enlightenment. While Christianity always had small-scale struggles regarding religious freedom post-Enlightenment with the majority Protestant persecution of Catholics, the question of religious freedom in the western, Christian world is now relatively solved. Now, Islam and the Middle East must do the same. Multiple countries today have fallen prey to the lack of understanding of the importance of religious pluralism. The first, and most
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Recently, Bangladesh has seen a rash of violent attacks against secularist bloggers and writers. The latest was Nazimuddin Samad, who was hacked to death. Five others have been killed in the past 14 months (Pokharel 2016). The interesting aspect about Bangladesh, and what separates itself from Middle Eastern Countries, is that while Islam is officially recognized as the official state religion, the government generally is secular. Therefore, the violence comes not from the government persecuting atheists who “insult” Islam, but from the general populace. While a minority of the Muslim population supports killing apostates, 44 percent, it is still a sizable amount of the population (2013). The numbers and actions of those in the country seem to show that Bangladesh has no respect for the concept of religious pluralism. They are only concerned with propping up their own, narrow version of Islam and has led to a culture that reinforces the heinous killings of secular …show more content…
People like Maajid Nawaz, Khaled Abou El Fadl, Irshad Manji, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali are becoming revolutionary leaders in the same way that Locke and Roger Williams were to Christianity. While it may be dangerous to them, they are trying to reform Islam from the inside. They are trying to break the tight interlock that Islam has with the political sphere in the Middle East and convince an entire group of people that the way they had been governing and practicing their religion for centuries is wrong. They have a long road ahead of them, and their goal will likely not be met with them. It will take generations to reform Islam just as Christianity was reformed centuries
Recently, Bangladesh has seen a rash of violent attacks against secularist bloggers and writers. The latest was Nazimuddin Samad, who was hacked to death. Five others have been killed in the past 14 months (Pokharel 2016). The interesting aspect about Bangladesh, and what separates itself from Middle Eastern Countries, is that while Islam is officially recognized as the official state religion, the government generally is secular. Therefore, the violence comes not from the government persecuting atheists who “insult” Islam, but from the general populace. While a minority of the Muslim population supports killing apostates, 44 percent, it is still a sizable amount of the population (2013). The numbers and actions of those in the country seem to show that Bangladesh has no respect for the concept of religious pluralism. They are only concerned with propping up their own, narrow version of Islam and has led to a culture that reinforces the heinous killings of secular …show more content…
People like Maajid Nawaz, Khaled Abou El Fadl, Irshad Manji, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali are becoming revolutionary leaders in the same way that Locke and Roger Williams were to Christianity. While it may be dangerous to them, they are trying to reform Islam from the inside. They are trying to break the tight interlock that Islam has with the political sphere in the Middle East and convince an entire group of people that the way they had been governing and practicing their religion for centuries is wrong. They have a long road ahead of them, and their goal will likely not be met with them. It will take generations to reform Islam just as Christianity was reformed centuries