Many people (I confess that I am one) have written to ask “Where are the moderate Muslim voices to condemn terrorists when after atrocities like 9/11?” We usually conclude that they are silenced by fear of the radical Islamists. But I’ve found just such a voice-right here in Canada.
Tarek Fatah is a Pakistani-born Canadian who is a committed Muslim. But he has no sympathy for those who use the Islamic faith to justify vicious attacks on innocent people. And in spite of the risks-he has had death threats-Tarek Fatah pulls no punches when criticizing radical Islamists. Indeed, he says they are unIslamic, and their blind loyalty to 7th century ideas is why Shariah-ruled countries are the world’s most backward, and Muslims living in them lack both freedom and prosperity, in spite of rich natural resources.
There are issues on which I disagree with Tarek Fatah, but there’s a thesis in his book, Chasing a Mirage: the Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State, on which I heartily agree with him. He writes that when religion comes into politics-as when radical Islamists recently tried to import Sharia law into Ontario-the danger is that faith may be used as a club to silence all debate: “You can’t argue with me, because God says I’m right!”
That attitude is irrational, and it’s unBiblical. For in the Bible, God says, “Come, let us reason together.” And it’s an attitude the CHP does not bring into public policy debates. For while it’s true that the CHP bases its policies on principles found in the Bible, when we advocate for those policies in the public square, we always work to develop objective, factual-I might even say “secular”-arguments to support those policies.
And, unlike radical Islamists, we don’t say that everyone has to believe what we believe-only that arguments from both sides ought to be heard in a civil dialogue. It’s the other side, in debates over homosexuality and Sharia, that has sought to impose the fascist attitude that allows only one point of view.
In his book, Tarek Fatah tells his co-religionists they should be willing to engage in a civil dialogue. The book is an eye-opener.