Women's Rights Weakens Orthodox Islam

The European Union recently approved a new ruling that strengthens women's rights. Under the new law, forced marriage and female genital mutilation are completely prohibited.

The easiest way to weaken orthodox Islam without excess resistance is to strengthen a commitment worldwide to human rights for women. And this is a good example: No child marriage and no clitoridectomies, regardless of what your religious beliefs are, because they are human rights violations, and that's more important than respect for religion when the two are in conflict.

The principle is simple: Religious tolerance is great. But not at the expense of human rights. Human rights trumps religious tolerance.

This forces Muslims to become less orthodox. It encourages an attitude of being selective about what edicts to follow from Islamic doctrine. That directly opposes fundamentalism.

Citizen Warrior is the author of the book, Getting Through: How to Talk to Non-Muslims About the Disturbing Nature of Islam and also writes for Inquiry Into Islam, History is Fascinating, and Foundation for Coexistence. Subscribe to Citizen Warrior updates here. You can send an email to CW here.