"[This book] embodies the Buddhist wisdom about change, life, and the
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October 11, 2010

PEACE: POINTED TALKING POINTS

Last week I attended a debate at Manhattan’s 92nd Street Y between my friend and colleague Christopher Hitchens (author, Vanity Fair columnist, public intellectual extraordinaire) and Tariq Ramadan (the renowned Islamic scholar who, in 2004, under provisions of the Bush administration’s Patriot Act, was barred from entering the U.S. to lecture and teach at Notre Dame).

Their subject: “Is Islam a Religion of Peace?”

coDe_100510_HitchensC_RamadanT.gif
Hitchens; Ramadan

Several key observations stuck with me….

From Ramadan:
“The problem is not the book [the Koran]. The problem is the reader.”

“What is the wheel of God? Diversity.”

From Hitchens:
“Secularism is the only guarantee of freedom of religion… [For freedom of religion to flourish] you need a secular state with a godless Constitution like this one.”

[Apropos of the repressive tendency of absolutist states]: “Total. It’s the first five letters of the word 'totalitarianism.' ”

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