Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Yesterday was World Hijab Day, a recent holiday confected to celebrate (and justify) the Muslim symbol of oppression. The description in Wikipedia says this: World Hijab Day is an annual event founded by Nazma Khan in 2013. The event takes place on February 1st each year in 140 countries worldwide. Its stated purpose is to encourage women of all religions … Continue reading World Hijab Day versus Wear A Kimono Day
This idea is not novel with me: as my friend Malgorzata noted, it’s been suggested by several people, including here by Caleb Powell. The premises of the idea are these: There are lots of Muslims who cast themselves, or are cast by others, in the role of liberals, progressives, or “Islamic reformers.” Some of these Muslims … Continue reading How to identify a genuinely progressive Muslim
CBS News reports that a Turkish woman named Seyran Ateş has started a “liberal mosque” in Berlin. This one, the Ibn-Rusd-Goethe mosque, incorporating the name of the great German literary polymath, is unusual in several respects. It welcomes devotees of any sect of Islam: Sunni, Shia, Sufi, and so on; women are not segregated from … Continue reading The demonization of Islamic reformers: woman who starts liberal mosque in Berlin gets hatred and threats from Muslims
I’ve written this headline exactly as PuffHo would have written it—if they had any rationality. In fact, by some twist of fate the subject of my post, an article by Zubin Madon, an engineer and humanist living in Bombay, India, did appear in the April 2016 PuffHo, and undercuts everything they have written denying the … Continue reading Zubin Madon has the perfect response to the Islamophilic truth haters
I always post under my own name, and also use my name when commenting on other sites. As I’ve written before, I think this should be standard practice on the Internet. It not only tells people who is commenting, but dampens the sort of nastiness, trolling, and name-calling that has caused so many websites to become toxic … Continue reading On internet anonymity
This video, published two days ago, features Sam Harris on Bill Maher’s “Real Time.” The conversation, about Islam and Trump’s orders on immigration, is wide ranging, centering on the need for moderate and ex-Muslims to help effect the taming of invidious Islamic theology. For those who call Sam an “Islamophobe,” this video is required viewing; but … Continue reading Sam Harris on Bill Maher
Nonie Darwish is an Egyptian-American who converted to Christianity from Islam, wrote several books criticizing Islam, its treatment of women and sharia law, and is the director of Former Muslims United. Given that her father was assassinated by the Israeli Defense Force for Islamic terrorism, you’d think she’d be violently anti-Israel, but that doesn’t seem to … Continue reading Critic of Islam is excoriated by Georgetown students for being “Islamophobic” and promulgating “hate speech”
I’m an admirer of the work of Asra Nomani, a journalist, cofounder of The Muslim Reform Movement, and author of Standing Alone in Mecca: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam. I’ve posted about her before; she’s a genuine believing Muslim and so, unlike Ayaan Hirsi Ali—who’s dismissed partly, and unfairly, because she left Islam—Nomani’s efforts to expunge the … Continue reading Asra Nomani discusses the eternal issue of the hijab this Saturday in Chicago
