Friday July 29, 2005

I've Been Thinking:

The most important Muslim legal council in Indonesia just ruled that liberal Islam is forbidden by Islamic law.

Again, liberal Islam is forbidden by Islamic law!

Indonesia is the most populated Muslim country in the world.
The Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) is the most important Muslim body in Indonesia.
This fatwa, this religious ruling, will reverberate throughout the Muslim world.

At a time when the non-Muslim world is begging for liberal responses to radical Islam the Council reprimands liberal Muslim leaders and preachers in Indonesia declaring that "all of their teachings are deviant ... no one should adhere to their beliefs."

What is behind this ruling? Conservatives are concerned about secularism, about sexuality, about TV and about intermarriage. They worry about assimilation.

The only response to religion, liberal and conservative, is education.