An Ex-Muslim's Message To Obama Regarding ISIS

In a video address to Barack Obama, Brother Rachid- a Moroccan-born former Muslim turned Christian, whose father is still an Imam- explains that ISIL aka ISIS now known as Islamic State (IS) along with al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, the Taliban, al-Shabaab and all the other Muslim terrorist groups that exist throughout the world are not an aberration, but are closely following the teachings of Mohammad, from the way they dress to their penchant for beheading.

He talks about how as a young boy he was taught to hate all non-Muslims, especially the Jews and Christians.

"ISIL speaks for Islam."

He tells Obama that

"unless the Muslim world deals with Islam and separates religion from state, we will never end this cycle.  Until you deal with the root of the problem, we'll be just dealing with the symptoms. ISIL is just one symptom, if it disappears other ISILS will be born under different names."

Video here. 

He has some interesting things to say, but really no solutions. But are there any?

Ex-Muslimah- Oppression Of Muslim Women Exists

"Marwa" is a "mostly-liberal" Arab, Middle-Eastern, ex-Muslimah, atheist blogger living in the U.S., and she's written an interesting response to an article she read on PolicyMic by Lauren Rankin. Rankin is a white, liberal feminist Western woman, who was being very critical of a series of tweets by Joyce Carol Oates equating the rape and sexual harassment of women in Egypt with religion.  Ms. Oates wrote:

Where 99.3% of women report having been sexually harassed & rape is epidemic--Egypt--natural to inquire: what's the predominant religion?
1:50 PM - 5 Jul 2013

Rankin launches into the typical accusations of Islamophobia, which she stupidly believes is a form of racism, claiming that it's patriarchy not religion that contributes to the oppression of Muslim women.  Marwa  begs to differ.

I love my feminist allies and friends, but sometimes white Western feminists get things all backwards when they try to speak about the experiences of foreign women of color. Especially if they’re talking about people they’ve never met, places they’ve never lived, religious and legal and patriarchal systems they are unacquainted with, and make broad, sweeping generalizations about those systems. This is such an example. I understand that it might be driven by a reflection of the voices of Muslim women who freely choose and cleave to their religion and rail out against accusations that they are being oppressed–what I do not understand is how the experiences and insights of free women with agency and self-determination can speak to the experiences of their sisters who do not have such freedom–the woman who is free to practice Islam or not, to wear hijab or not–this woman does not speak for me or my ex-Muslim and Muslim friends who suffer under Islamic systems any more than a Western woman does.

To be clear, I applaud the instinct to try to reduce anti-Muslim hate and bigotry. It is the approach here that I think is utterly misguided and frankly dangerous. Rankin is attempting to object to Islam being characterized in a monolithic manner…by characterizing it in a monolithic manner, as something that never contributes to or causes misogyny, rape, and oppression of women in Muslim-majority countries. And while I myself am a champion of trying to oppose anti-Muslim bigotry, I believe the strongest and most compassionate way of doing this is by resisting the characterization of Islam as a monolith. What has happened here is that Rankin has engaged in what I say is a dangerous refusal to examine the very real influences and intermingling of religion and patriarchy in violence and oppression against women and children in Muslim-majority countries.

The rest here on her blog Between a Veil and a Dark Place. It's an interesting read, not what some oppressed Muslim women and liberal idiots like Rankin would have you believe.

Marwa also wrote a great article about freedom and living in fear.

Ex-Muslimah Talks About Freedom and Living In Fear

From the blog of a Lebanese ex-Muslim, atheist who moved to the U.S. 11 months ago.

In this blog post: What it is like to be a Muslim woman, and why we know what freedom is (and you may not), "Marwa"  talks about what it was like to finally experience total freedom, for the first time ever. Fascinating read. I don't think we fully understand what it's like to live in constant, unmitigated fear. She takes you there.

I have keys.

When I first moved to the United States eleven months ago, it took me several weeks to grasp this bit of information.

I have keys.

I have keys to my own front door and I can open this front door and walk down the street whenever I want to.

I can walk down the street without being watched through the windows and without anyone calling my parents and telling them I am roaming loose on the street.

I can walk down the street, sit down on a bench under a tree, and eat an iced cream cone. Then I can stand up and walk back home.

There will be nobody waiting for me at my house to ask me where I have been, refuse to let me in, call me a liar, and use my walk as renewed incentive to rifle through all of my possessions for proof that I am doing something wrong.

Because the simple desire to take a walk cannot but hide something deviant.

Because there is no good reason why a woman should want to walk down the street just to walk, and expose herself to the questioning and predatory eyes of the neighbors and strange men.

I have keys to my front door, now, and I can open my front door and walk down the street whenever I want to.

Read the rest of her essay on her blog  Between a Veil and a Dark Place.

Gay, Black Ex-Muslim New Yorker To Become Rabbi

This has to be one of the most interesting yet bizarre religious conversion stories I have ever come across.

New Yorker Dario Hunter, an openly gay lawyer who also happens to be half black (his mum) and half Iranian Muslim (his dad) is graduating as a rabbi on August 25.

Apparently, Hunter gave up everything- including his career in New York city- to move to Israel to study to be a rabbi. Granted, it was through a progressive online study program, the Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute (JSLI), which is run by Rabbi Steven Blane. Graduating with Hunter are a Catholic-born Brazilian and a British songwriter. In fact, half of his class are converts. Blane himself has an interesting story. Since so many Jews are either "unaffiliated or in interfaith marriages", Blane believes there's a need for Rabbis to minister to this segment of the Jewish diaspora.

Blane was a traditional rabbi until he resigned after being "threatened with expulsion for officiating at interfaith weddings."

Along with his online rabbinical training programme, he also runs Sim Shalom, a global online synagogue.

Blane has a unique perspective on Judaism:

Blane knows that a former Muslim becoming a rabbi will be uncomfortable for some, but the plurality of backgrounds of his graduating class fits perfectly with his belief in Jewish Universalism.

"I don't believe that Jewish people were uniquely chosen for a relationship with God – God doesn't choose a favorite child," Blane said.

"Nearly 50% of the Jewish population finds deep significance in observing Holiday and life-cycle rituals, but doesn't feel like any traditional denomination reflects their views. There's a huge need for rabbis who can provide spiritual leadership that serves this large and important group."

I'm not sure what Hunter's father might think of his apostate son, but if he is indeed gay, he certainly has a better chance of surviving in the Jewish religion than he would as a Muslim. Let's hope he can hang on to his head.

Shalom, Rabbi Hunter, you've embraced a far more tolerant religion.