In general, writers shouldn't be killed for what they write, though I can think of exceptions.

What's real and what's true aren't necessarily the same.

I grew up in a family in which there was very little religion. My father wasn't religious at all. But he was really interested in the subject of, you know, the birth and growth of Islam. And he basically transmitted that interest to me.

In spite of all evidence that life is discontinuous, a valley of rifts, and that random chance plays a great part in our fates, we go on believing in the continuity of things, in causation and meaning. But we live on a broken mirror, and fresh cracks appear in its surface every day.

If Islam is to be reconciled with modernity, these voices must be encouraged until they swell into a roar.

There is a widespread difficulty in the Muslim world, which has to do with how the people are taught about examining their own history. A whole range of stuff has been placed off limits.

The Christian Coalition is still about Christianity, even if it's an idea of Christianity that many Christians might not go along with.