Peter Edman
TF Moderator Joseph Loconte has an article out in the 28 May 2005 issue of The Weekly Standard, “The Unmentionable Freedom: A new report on reform in the Arab world ignores religious liberty.”
[M]ost Islamic leaders and institutions--and now the scholars of the Arab Human Development Report--seem to have sworn an oath of silence about the problem of religious oppression, especially the plight of Muslims who challenge state orthodoxy on religious grounds. The lack of religious liberty prevents debate over the meaning of Islamic texts--a crucial step in offering a progressive interpretation of Islam. For all the talk of a "freedom deficit," the authors of the U.N. report fail to recognize the unique status of religious expression. They thus see no connection between the denial of religious rights and the political and economic stagnation of most of the world's 22 Arab states. Their two previous reports, which examined economic and educational issues, were similarly silent on the point.
The full text is for Standard subscribers only, but I will send a text version to interested Trinity Forum alumni .
Sightings, Religious Liberty, Tue 31 May 2005
There are few things sadder in this universe than a well-dressed man sitting in his well appointed house with a prime cut of beef in his belly and an $18 glass of wine in his hand, studying a magazine article about the joys of titanium tennis rackets. That . . . is futility writ large.
Dave Shiflett, 2003
