Manhattan Project: The Great Mosque Divide | YaleGlobal Online Magazine
Conservatives must cease to see religious pluralism as a weakness rather than a strength. The US won’t defeat radical Islam by becoming more like Saudi Arabia or Iran. Conservatives also need to distinguish between the Islamist minority and the majority of ordinary Muslims, and give the latter the benefit of doubt until proven otherwise.
For their part, liberals need to recognize that debate about Islam is now global. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and a plethora of interconnected blogs, blur national boundaries and fuel a global consciousness about the issue. Unless they take a leaf out of the conservative book and begin to actively question Muslim-majority countries for their generally tawdry treatment of religious minorities – legal discrimination, apostasy laws, and restrictions on freedom of worship remain all too common – they will be accused of double-standards.
In short, Western conservatives and liberals need to find common ground on one of the most pressing issues of our time. The failure to do so weakens both the West’s culture of individual rights and the struggle against radical Islam.
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