"Here is something I have learned the hard way, but which a lot of well-meaning people in the West have a hard time accepting: All human beings are equal, but all cultures and religions are not. A culture that celebrates femininity and considers women to be the masters of their own lives is better than a culture that mutilates girls’ genitals and confines them behind walls and veils or flogs or stones them for falling in love. A culture that protects women’s rights by law is better than a culture in which a man can lawfully have four wives at once and women are denied alimony and half their inheritance. A culture that appoints women to its supreme court is better than a culture that declares that the testimony of a woman is worth half that of a man. It is part of Muslim culture to oppress women and part of all tribal cultures to institutionalize patronage, nepotism, and corruption. The culture of the Western Enlightenment is better."
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Atheism activistsWomen activists from the United StatesCritics of IslamAfrican American atheistsAmerican former Muslims
Original Language: English
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Chapter 14, “Opening the Muslim Mind: An Enlightenment Mind (pp. 212-213)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ayaan_Hirsi_Ali
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Ayaan Hirsi Ali
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