Pakistani Christians are receiving threats from the Taliban to convert to Islam or die. Here we see the difference between radical and traditional Islam. In traditional Islam it is never acceptable to force anyone to convert. The Koran says "there shall be no compulsion in religion" and this has been understood, by all the mainstream schools, to mean that one should freely choose to become a Muslim. No Muslim empire has historically enforced mass conversion.

Typically Muslim empires have distinguished between conquering a country and bringing it under Islamic rule and law--this is allowed--and forcing people to become Muslims--this is not allowed. The Islamic radicals, in trying to compel conversions on pain of death, are breaking with the Koran and the Islamic tradition. Only two schools of Koranic interpretation--the Bin Laden school and the Robert Spencer school--consider Taliban-style "convert or die" jurisprudence to be consistent with what the Prophet Muhammad taught and what the Koran says.

There is a problem with traditional Islam, but it doesn't concern converting in but rather converting out. Classical Islam allows voluntary entry into Islam, but once you're in you cannot leave. Indeed the traditional remedy for apostasy is death. (No wonder Rushdie got into so much trouble.) I don't think this is consistent with any Western understanding of religious freedom. Fortunately there are traditional Muslims like Tariq Ramadan who are calling for a reassessment of these teachings, not in the name of secularism or liberalism but in the name of a renewed Islam that is well adapted to the needs of the twenty-first century.

Islam is growing worldwide, as is Christianity. What we have here is what Hayek once called "a framework of competing utopias." The faith that wins is not the one that bullies its opponents but the one that wins them over with hope for a better life. No other religions have the evangelical power of Islam and Christianity. Buddhism seems only to be growing among disaffected Europeans, and in Hollywood. HInduism and Judaism don't even aspire to make converts. If traditional Muslims want Christians to protect their rights in Christian countries, they must protect Christians from the assaults of the radicals in Muslim countries. Bush should convey this message to General Musharraf and to the Muslims of Pakistan.