Washington Post/Newsweek Blog "On Faith" Brings On Ayaan Hirsi Ali

I've been very critical lately about the the Washington Post/Newsweek "Muslims Speak Out" forum that took place last week via the On Faith blog. I wrote about the subject here, here and here. And, as noted in my last post on the matter, I am not alone in my criticism. On Faith contributor Susan Jacoby said much the same thing in a recent blog post, looking at it from a secularist perspective.

Now it seems Jacoby has been joined in the On Faith "Secularist Corner" by none other than Ayaan Hirsi Ali, one of the very figures suggested by myself and other critics for inclusion in the "Muslims Speak Out" forum, if not the On Faith lineup.

Hirsi Ali currently has a "Guest Voices" piece up at On Faith titled "My View of Islam." While she takes an uncompromising position towards Islam, her criticism, and that of other ex-Muslims and scholars of Islam unafraid to get at the truth, is the true path towards reform. Only through self-examination and self-reflection, even when it entails offending religious sensibilities and breaking down taboos, can progress be achieved.

My hat's off to On Faith for contributing to the process. And I can only hope that voices of the blogosphere had a little something to do with that.