Islam may change Over at his website Daniel Pipes says that Islam can change. Here are some fascinating nuggets that he presents about Turkey:

This can be done. One recent example: In May, the Turkish religious authorities ruled - completely contrary to Islamic custom - to permit women to pray next to men and to attend mosque services while menstruating. The High Religious Affairs Board decided this on the (distinctly modern) basis that men and women are "equal and complementary beings." Next month, this same board takes up the extremely delicate topic of permitting Muslim women to marry non-Muslim men, when it will perhaps again rule against centuries of practice. If Turkish theologians can execute such changes, why not theologians in other countries, too? And if practices concerning women can be changed, why not those concerning jihad or the role of Islamic law as a whole? Islam can adjust to modernity no less than have other faiths.

This really shocks me. I haven't been to a mosque in 10 years in the United States-I can't imagine a day when American Muslims would allow men and women to pray next to each other. Neither can I imagine American Muslims being happy with non-Muslim men marrying Muslim women (Muslims believe a religion is usually dictated through the father-so men like Arafat can marry Christians, but you rarely see the inverse). Maybe American Islam has changed since I last checked in, but I suspect that Turkish Islam is more progressive than the Islam practiced in this country. It is also heartening. I only wish we had a few centuries in which to soak Islam with liberalism.