Friday, April 01, 2005

Moderating Islam

Fire of Liberty

Stephen Schwartz has a great article over at Tech Central Station on the creation of a moderate Islamic platform in the United States known as the Center for Islamic Pluralism. After reading countless articles by Schwartz in The Weekly Standard, Tech Central Station along with his bestselling book The Two Faces of Islam: Saudi Fundamentalism and Its Role In Terrorism, I can assure you that he will be a great beacon of moderate Islam to the World and help us move beyond the State Department's accepted voices of Islam. To truly understand what he and the Center for Islamic Pluralism will bring to the table just read a little excerpt from his piece:
Unlike the radical Islamists of the "Wahhabi lobby," represented by such aggressive and militant groups as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Muslim Students Association of the U.S. and Canada, and others, we do not fantasize an Islamic conquest of America; nor do we preach the supremacy of Islam. We call for nothing more than a place at the big table of American religions. We do not demand control of the whole table, or a table of our own, separate from other Americans. We welcome sincere interfaith cooperation with Jews, Christians, and others, whom we believe share in the grace of almighty Allah. We affirm, in the words of Qur'an 2:62, "Believers, Jews, Christians, and Sabaeans -- whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does what is right -- shall be rewarded by their Lord; they have nothing to fear or to regret."
I'd say that the US and the Islamic World will benefit considerably from Mr. Schwartz and his organization. Check it out.

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