My Islam: human rights activist Irshad Manji, an outspoken Muslim lesbian, has a vision for Islam.(COMMENTARY)(Interview)

Publication: The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine)

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COPYRIGHT 2006 Liberation Publications, Inc.

In her controversial book The Trouble With Islam Today (St. Martin's Press), she forcefully argues for critical thinking in the Islamic faith. Via e-mail from Yemen, where she is filming a documentary about Islam and the West, the 37-year-old Yale University scholar offered her thoughts on Islam's treatment of gays and lesbians.

The trouble with Islam today is literalism, an uncritical approach to the faith. Of course, every religion has its share of literalists. Here's the difference: In contemporary Islam, literalism is mainstream--worldwide. Even moderate Muslims in the open societies of the West believe that Islam's holy book, the Koran, is the final, untouched, and therefore perfect word of God.

You can't say that about moderate Christians. A few years ago I hosted Toronto's Queer Television, a commercial TV show that explores the lives of gay and lesbian people. Whenever...

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