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[Sarah Haider: Islam and 
the Necessity of Liberal Critique]

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(Moderator) Hi everybody and welcome 
to this next presentation entitled

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"Islam and the Necessity of Liberal Critique".

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I'd like to welcome Sarah Haider, 
who is one of the co-founders

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of the Ex Muslims of North America group.

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So, please join me in welcoming Sarah.

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(Applause)

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(Sarah Haider) Hi, everyone.

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I'm Sarah, and for the last two years,
I have worked for an organization about

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non theist ex-Muslims, those who once
identified themselves with Islam,

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and now call themselves Atheists, 
Agnostics or Deists.

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And the organization is called Ex-Muslims 
of North America.

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We are a relatively new organization but
we are growing quickly

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and we now have communities of ex-Muslims
in over 15 cities.

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As you can imagine, it is 
notoriously difficult for ex-Muslims

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to find others like ourselves, 
trying to build friendships among people

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who are often under siege and deep in
the closet is incredibly difficult.

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In the first place, how do you even find
people who are often deliberately

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doing their best to stay under cover?

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As an organization, we work to provide
ex-Muslims with much needed support,

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support to free themselves 
from the shackles of religion

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and to be themselves; to learn about
each other's suffering

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and, above all else, endure.

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We are in a peculiar situation, 
my colleagues and I,

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we are intimately connected with more
godless ex-Muslims

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than likely anyone else in the world.

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I have heard thousands of stories
from hundreds of people

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about their experiences with Islam.

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Some luck few were able to leave the faith
with little consequence.

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Their relationships with their families 
and friends and communities

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remained intact.

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But for most, this was not the case.

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Our journeys have seen 
tremendous struggles.

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For some, the cost was only social:
loss of friends and families.

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For others, they risk their health and
mental well-being

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from being locked into psychiatric wards
to enduring physical violence

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from all family members.

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Ex-Muslims, arguably 
more than any other group,

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are deeply familiar with the problems
entrenched within Muslim communities

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and inherent within Islamic scriptures.

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As most of us happen to be both 
people of color

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and first- or second-generation 
immigrants, we are doubly affected

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both by hatred and violence from Muslims,
but also bigotry and xenophobia

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from the broader American public.

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Despite all this, my experience 
over the last two years

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has made me wary of speaking up,
even to an audience such as this.

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I always expected feeling unwelcome
from Muslim audiences,

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but I didn't anticipate 
an equal amount of hostility

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from my allies on the Left.

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For example, when I first published a piece,
Fact-checking Reza Haslan,

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who is a prominent Muslim scholar,

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on his dismissal of 
female genital mutilation

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as only an African problem, 
not a Muslim one,

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I got many responses from people
unhappy with what I wrote,

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almost all of whom questioned my motives,
rather than addressing my claims.

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To my surprise, most of my critics 
were not Muslims.

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Rather, they identified as Liberals, 
and even sometimes as Atheists.

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Some darkly alluded to my agenda and 
others claimed that, as a former Muslim,

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there was no way I could be trusted 
with "fair criticism".

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Now remember: I published a fact check.

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It seems to me that it would be easy 
to verify my claims:

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fact-check the fact-check, so to speak.

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But instead, Muslims 
and some people on the Left

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preferred to throw all-round suspicions
about my character and my intelligence.

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Those who oppose 
Christian authoritarianism

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will find that the broad majority 
of Liberals, religious or non-religious,

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side with them 
and will offer their support

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in the fight to push religious morals
out of our politics and public life.

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Even religious Liberals 
sometimes look upon

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the politically-charged religious right
with distaste

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and some work with secularists
to keep them out of our politics.

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The executive director of Americans United
for Church and State, for instance,

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is an ordained minister.

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Atheists and Secularists 
can feel secure in the knowledge

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that their allies in the Liberal Left
will stand with them

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when their target is the Far-right
Christians.

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It makes sense: Liberals don't share 
much -- many common values

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with the religious Right.

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But when the same scrutiny 
is applied to Islam

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you find that, inexplicably, some people 
on the Left will start to align instead

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with the Islamic religious Right.

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The consistent exceptions have been
the secular and Atheist communities.

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When luminaries of disbelief movement,
like Harris and Dawkins, speak about

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the horrors of Christianity and write
books condemning it, they are cheered,

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their works lionized, their presence 
sought at events and conferences.

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But when they turn the same critical gaze
towards the religion of my family,

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they are told to cease 
such offensive talk,

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to refrain from criticizing 
the same oppressive forces

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that they criticized in the past.

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There is an instinct to pigeon-hole
anyone who says something negative

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about Islam, to broadly label them 
in such a way that nearly guarantees

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that most on the Left will ignore
what they have to say.

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The first method, I found, of people
dismissing my claims has been that

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since I as a brown person, I can easily
be painted as bigot,

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is that I must be pro-war or broadly
support the Far-right agenda in some way.

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This is not true.

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Sometimes, I'm called an Uncle Tom
or a House Arab. (5:58)