Source: The Immanent Frame
http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2009/07/20/reversal-in-the-case-of-tariq-ramadan/
Off the cuff is a new feature at The Immanent Frame, in which we pose a question to a handful of leading thinkers and ask for a brief response. Our first question concerns the case of Tariq Ramadan.
As the New York Times reported Friday, a federal appeals court has reversed a lower court ruling that allowed the government to bar Ramadan from entering the United States in 2004. A prominent Muslim scholar, Ramadan was set to take a position as Luce Professor of Religion at the University of Notre Dame when the Bush administration revoked his visa.
In a 2006 complaint filed by the ACLU on behalf of Ramadan and other parties, the plaintiffs argued that “the government’s unlawful actions stifle intellectual exchange about Islam and the Muslim world at a time when robust and unfettered intellectual exchange about these subjects is of extraordinary importance to American citizens and others living in the United States.”
In light of the new developments in the case, we asked: what are the potential implications of the Ramadan case for both academic freedom and public discussions of Islam in the United States?