The
American Academy of Religion is reporting that the United States government has denied a visa to renowned Islamic scholar
Tariq Ramadan, currently Professor of Islamic Studies and Senior Research Fellow at St. Antony's College (Oxford).
Prof. Ramadan, a Swiss national, has been a consistent opponent of Islamic terrorism, and he has also been highly critical of U.S. policy in the Muslim world. For more on the legal issues surrounding Prof. Ramadan, see
the AAR press release.
From Prof. Ramadan's website (link):
I fear that the United States has grown fearful of ideas. I have learned firsthand that the Bush administration reacts to its critics not by engaging them, but by stigmatizing and excluding them. Will foreign scholars be permitted to enter the United States only if they promise to mute their criticisms of U.S. policy? It saddens me to think of the effect this will have on the free exchange of ideas, on political debate within America, and on our ability to bridge differences across cultures.
(Originally published in the Washington Post)
AAR president Diana Eck issued the following statement:
The American Academy of Religion is dismayed to be deprived of the opportunity for discussion and exchange with Ramadan who was to address our annual meeting in November. ... Ramadan is one of today's leading Muslim theologians and his voice is vital to the contemporary discussion of Islam in the West. His ongoing exclusion sends exactly the wrong message about America's commitment to the free exchange of ideas.
(From the ACLU)
As Prof. Eck notes, Prof. Ramadan was to deliver the keynote address to the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, the largest professional organization for the academic study of religion in North America.