Would Halevi have banished Spinoza? Turned Rushdie over? by Phyllis Chesler THE TIMES OF ISRAEL April 20, 2014 http://www.phyllis-chesler.com/1287/would-halevi-have-banished-spinoza-turned-rushdie Print Send RSS Share: Be the first of your friends to like this. My esteemed colleague, Yossi Klein Halevi, together with the Muslim chaplain at Duke University, Abdullah Antepli, have penned a defense of Brandeis University's decision to disinvite Ayaan Hirsi Ali. They write that Brandeis President Lawrence has provided an "essential teaching moment," one that they hope will "prevent our descent into a holy war which would desecrate our faith and devour us all." In service to this messianic dream, Halevi and Antepli support the dishonoring of Hirsi Ali as a "renegade;" they do not see her as a "dissident" whose rights they might otherwise respect. I wonder whether Halevi would have argued for the excommunication of Spinoza on these same grounds. Perhaps, "renegades" are radicals and dissidents are "reformers." We certainly need both points of view. My colleague Yossi is truly a dreamer. His most recent prize-winning book has "dreamers" in its title, (and it is a book that I love). A previous Halevi book envisioned interfaith harmony between religions. Its title: "At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for God With Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land."    » CONTINUE READING

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