Islam akin to other faiths

Published on Thursday 4 September 2008 22:11

Humza Yousaf of the Scottish-Islamic Foundation (Letters, 4 September) does not believe in freedom of expression as he wishes to exempt Islam from critical analysis by claiming that to do so may cause offence to sacred beliefs.

Millions of atheists, agnostics, sceptics, non-believers and followers of other gods simply do not accept the Islamic creation myths and, by implication, they cause offence to Muslims such as Mr Yousaf.

We are firmly of the view that Islam, like every other religion which has existed throughout human history, is not divine or sacred in origin, but is instead a man-made ideology.

We support the ideals of the 18th-century Scottish Enlightenment and the views of people such as David Hume and Adam Ferguson, who subjected religion to intense and critical scrutiny. If the Scottish-Islamic Foundation finds such scrutiny offensive to its sacred beliefs, we make no apology for this.

For the record, we have received not a single penny of taxpayers' money, unlike the Scottish-Islamic Foundation, which has received 400,000 from the SNP government. This is money which could have been used to help pay the fuel bills of poor Scots of all religions and none.

IAN STEWART

Convener, Atheist Scotland

Park Avenue

Dundee