"Ex Muslim Voices" campaign...

[ReptilianPeon]

[robvalue]

Brilliant. This is exactly the kind of thing we need!

Those closet atheists in highly oppressive countries are those who need us the most, and even those in other countries can risk retribution from their community. Each atheist who comes out makes it that little bit easier for the next one.

[ReptilianPeon]

[Regina]

[Dystopia]

The worst thing about the liberal left is that despite some of them not knowing any muslims at all, they still believe what they say is more important than what people's actual experiences with the religion. I know that as a general rule personal experience is not evidence, but personal experience works when experimenting something gives you a better insight. More than neo-cons or liberals, the people who we should let talk about Islam are ex-Muslims. Same is true for other religions.

[Regina]

There is definitely a place for Dawkins and Hitchens to talk about Islam I think, the West does need to show solidarity with people who are struggling under austere Islamism. You are right though, we need more people who have actually had the experience to come forward and speak on it. It's raw and authentic then.

Hopefully this should happen naturally as time goes on, especially now there is a growing ex-Muslim movement.

[Dystopia]

What I think is that both liberals and neo-conservatives make mistakes - Liberals assume everything that has the label "religion" on it is sacred and can't be disrespected, and that everyone who is an immigrant and non-white must be protected at all cost, so everything that happens because of Islam or any other religion is not because of X religion but because some evil psychopath did it. Neo-cons think muslims are a dangerous for national security, even innocent hardworking ones, and they want to keep them in conditions we could not keep serial killers. I think there's a middle ground between hating all Muslims and saying religion is blame-free. People who've suffered in the name of Islam have more authority to speak about it because they experienced it first-hand - Of course, you can study it and know everything about the religion, but to experience the effects is way more important because you get a better perception.