Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ali is one of my favorite religious/atheist authors. Most of the English speaking atheist authors come from Christian backgrounds and marginally or fully secular societies. Most of us have never experienced compelled religion. Most of us have never been physically harmed because of religion.

That's not the case with Ayaan. So her opinions carry a lot of weight with me. As she says in the book, the United States and other western nations are not [b:The Handmaid's Tale|38447|The Handmaid's Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)|Margaret Atwood|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1578028274l/38447._SY75_.jpg|1119185], Muslim nations are. We allow them to roll back the West's progress in the emancipation of women at a huge cost - We are allowing women to once again become prey for sexual predators. Her numbers are in order. She decries the idea that it's racism. The ideals that force women back into hiding are religious and patriarchal.

She offers solutions near the end of the book, which I found practical on a surface level. Obviously, she's very pro-immigration and wants genuine refugees to prosper in the west.

She never touches on the insanity of religious fundamentalism, which is present in all religions, but that's a nastier subject that she's dealt with in other books.… (més)