Some of my liberal friends have been passing the following meme around, in hopes of providing historical perspective to those who fear an influx of asylum-seekers from the Old World.
The unfortunate (and most likely unintended) implication here is that refugees welcomed with open arms by native-born peoples might well go on to reshape the entire continent in the image of their own culture and sacred texts. It has, after all, happened before.
Viewing the problem through a broader humanist lens, though, our stated moral goal should be to free as many minds as possible from the tyranny of religious extremism. With respect to Islam in particular, we need to move as many people as possible out of the rightmost categories in the cartoon panel below:
(Thanks to Ðavid Osorio for resharing this one.)
An Islamist who works through political means is more desirable than one who resorts to extrajudicial violence, a Muslim who does not seek to impose Islam on unbelievers is better than both, and an ex-Muslim is best of all, assuming they do not fall prey to some other faith-based nonsense.
From a humanist perspective, then, the West has a moral obligation to take in refugees and give them the opportunity to free their minds from the shackles of Abrahamic faith. If we can’t do it, who can?
