SAlterNet: MediaCulture: Muslim Refusenik

This interview with Irshard Manji is terrific. She wrote "The Trouble with Islam Today." She says that, unlike Christianity and other religions, mainstream Islam is fundamentalist, due to its history. At the end of the 11th century, after the Arab Enlightenment period, the main Muslim leader closed the gates to freethinking. 135 sects were narrowed down to four main ones, with a literal reading of the Koran and enforced fatwas, which she says are a series of legal opinions that scholars cannot question or overturn. Innovation was termed a "fitna," something that divides society. This has persisted until today.

She sees similarity between all fundamentalist religions.

Irshard Manji produced and hosted "Queer Television" and currently produces and hosts "Big Ideas," a interview program with progressive thinkers around the world. She's won awards from Oprah Winfrey, Ms. Magazine, Maclean's, and she's received the Simon Wiesenthal Award of Valor. She is a person who is truly making a difference.