Hell's bells, what a scary article.Do I hate Muslims more because of it? No - they are the victims here. Does it make me think that Islamic culture is more prone to this kind of thing? No - that was crystal clear before. Will it convince CarolC? No, she will point out that other (small, inactive, marginal, well-known to be wacky) groups do this so that it's not an 'Islamic' problem, and that anyway to SAY anything is to contribute to a culture of hate against Muslims. In fact we should point out these problems loud and clear because:
(1) If Muslims live in our country it is reasonable that they conform to our notions of human rights - like everyone else, including wierd Christian cults etc.
(2)If mainstream people do not comment on these abuses the racist right will, and use it to make political capital out of
(3)What is needed is not a culture of hate against Islam but a culture of change within Islam - and the Turkish women in this article are quite clear that this will not happen from the inside.
(4)It seems that to ignore these problems for fear of being called a racist does a lot more harm than good, and in fact provides an encouraging atmosphere for hard-line Islamists.