Rushdie denounces Islamic extremism, calls for secularism [video 84min]

Salman Rushdie seeks a reform movement inside Islam at an event hosted by the Center for Inquiry's"Voices of Reason" series at the Ethical Culture Auditorium in New York City. During this event, entitled"An Evening with Salman Rushdie," he criticizes the new culture in both Europe and America that denounces the use of terms like Islamic terrorism and Islamic fascism. He argues that it is an individual's right to question a group's core beliefs. Rushdie received death threats from the Iranian government after the 1988 publication of his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses -- which, as a matter of fact, I finished reading last night -- Brilliant! -- Here's the money quote, written in the voice of a character called Bilal X, an American convert to Islam, and Rushdie's caricature of Yusuf Islam (formerly the singer Cat Stevens): History is the blood-wine that must no longer be drunk. History is the intoxicant, the creation and possession of the Devil, of the great Shaitan, the greatest of the lies -- progress, science, rights -- against which the Imam has set his face. History is a deviation from the Path, knowledge is a delusion, because the sum of knowledge was complete on the day Al-Lah finished his revelation to Mahound."We will unmake the veil of history," Bilal declaims into the listening night,"and when it is unravelled, we will see Paradise standing there, in all its glory and light."Click here for audio MP3 of this Center for Inquiry event.