American Future has a pair of posts on the subject. The first is a round-up that covers a number of reformist individuals and organizations. The second covers Bangladeshi journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who faces sedition charges for planning a trip to Israel to attend a symposium organized by the Hebrew Writers Association. He will be tried beginning on May 23, 2006, and the blog is being kept in the loop by Samarendra Nath Goswami. Goswami is an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, the Secretary General of the Bangladesh Minority Lawyer's Association, and an anti-terror activist. If you've followed Winds' coverage of the developing situation in Bangladesh, the situation isn't that surprising and the importance of people like Goswami is clear.

With Mr. Goswami's help, American Future plans to cover the trial. Good job. Publicity that makes their persecution costly is one way we can help to protect Islam's decent people from its less civilized elements.

On which topic, Benjamin Kuipers forwards this piece on al-Jazeera, which argues that takfir was meant only for cases of worldly treason, not mere changes of religion. Recognizing the freedom to choose one's religious allegiance is a critical step, so positive moves in this direction are worthy of note. Having said that, note the charges being employed against Mr. Choudhury - and see the Winds article covering takfir, which discusses the positions taken by various Muslim schools.

Long, long way to go here... but it must start somewhere.