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Revision as of 21:25, 17 May 2012 by Awilley (talk | contribs) (→Criticism: a couple tweaks to wording in footnote.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Secular Islam Summit was an international forum for secularists of Islamic societies, held in March 2007 in St. Petersburg, Florida, organized by secular Muslims together with the Center for Inquiry, a secular humanist educational organization, and in partnership with the International Intelligence Summit, a forum on terrorism.
Speakers ranged from ex-believers to devout reformers, and attendees included government officials from Arab countries, Europe, Canada, and the US. The summit was broadcast live on CNN's Glenn Beck program and described by the Wall Street Journal as "a landmark".
Goals
The speakers at the summit shared the conviction that Islam should be compatible with secular democracy. They agreed that Islam could not remain both a political and religious teaching, and needed to choose one or the other.
Criticism
Members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil liberties advocacy organization, criticized the summit for being organized by a non-religious organization and for including ex-Muslims among its speakers, who they said were hostile to Islam. Yvonne Haddad, a professor of Christian and Muslim history at Georgetown, shared CAIR's apprehension, questioning the summit's claim to nonpartisanship.
St. Petersburg Declaration
Although delegates to the summit "differed sharply on particulars", on March 5 they released a public manifesto calling for reform within Islam. The text, known as the St. Petersburg Declaration, affirmed the separation of mosque and state, gender equality in personal and family law, and unrestricted critical study of Islamic traditions. It states, for instance,
We are secular Muslims, and secular persons of Muslim societies. We are believers, doubters, and unbelievers, brought together by a great struggle, not between the West and Islam, but between the free and the unfree...
We insist upon the separation of religion from the state and the observance of universal human rights...
We call upon the governments of the world to reject Sharia law, fatwa courts, clerical rule, and state-sanctioned religion in all their forms; oppose all penalties for blasphemy and apostasy, in accordance with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; eliminate practices, such as female circumcision, honor killing, forced veiling, and forced marriage, that further the oppression of women...
We say to Muslim believers: there is a noble future for Islam as a personal faith, not a political doctrine; to Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Baha'is, and all members of non-Muslim faith communities: we stand with you as free and equal citizens; and to nonbelievers, we defend your unqualified liberty to question and dissent."
Those who signed the declaration were:
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References
- ^ Kuwait News Agency, Feb 2007. First "Secular Islam Summit" to convene early next month in Florida
- Washington Post, Susan Jacoby, Diverse Muslims, Violent Islamist Fundamentalism
- ^ US News and Word report: Fighting for the soul of Islam
- Washington Post March 17 2007
- Stephens, Bret (2007-03-06). "Islam's Other Radicals - WSJ.com". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved 2012-01-27.
- Andrew Bieszad, The Conference on Secular Islam, Telospress.com ("...all speakers agreed that Islam cannot remain both a political and religious teaching. For its own survival, it needs to choose.")
- Fighting for the soul of Islam, US News and Word report (CAIR criticized many of the secularists' remarks, including the claim by the Syrian-American psychiatrist Wafa Sultan that there is no difference between "radical Islam and regular Islam". Parvez Ahmed, the board chairman of CAIR, said that "The drew an amalgam of extreme right-wing and neocon voices who touted as role models of 'reform' those who are deep in their hostility to Islam.")
- Laughlin, Meg (March 6, 2007). "Intelligence conference draws criticism". Tampa Bay Times. (Haddad said, "Legitimate scholars are horrified by the lineup. The speakers are extreme in their views. Basically, it's everyone known for damning Islam.")
- ^ "The St. Petersburg Declaration". Centerforinquiry.net. 2007-04-05. Retrieved 2012-01-27.
- Susan Jacoby, "Diverse Muslims, Violent Islamist Fundamentalism", On Faith, Washington Post