Condemned to Death by Red Tape

Suddenly a sliver of hope?

The news is "Turkey is preparing to publish a document that represents a revolutionary reinterpretation of Islam - and a controversial and radical modernisation of the religion".

According to Fadi Hakura, an expert on Turkey, "Turkey is doing nothing less than recreating Islam - changing it from a religion whose rules must be obeyed, to one designed to serve the needs of people in a modern secular democracy."

Which sort of leaves last week's decision by Turkish President Abdullah Gul to sign into law "constitutional amendments which allow women to wear Islamic headscarves at universities" a little bit at odds with that same secular society...

But then again, perceptions can mean everything.

And while some go one way,others go another...

For instance, today we learnt Iran is drafting a new penal code under which the death penalty is introduced for giving up Islam.

So much for the Quranic injunction "there is no compulsion in religion"...

But being an apostate is never easy, and it looks like the red tape in Islam is even worse than in the Vatican...