If we believe in freedom of religion as a moral position then that means we must protect those who face violence or threats of violence from leaving a religion or changing a religion. Although many people who leave one religion for another or who become atheists will face criticism and sometimes ostracism from those in their former faith community, there is a line in the sand that divides reasonable criticism of those who leave a faith from unacceptable violence towards them.

Whilst I accept that those who leave Christianity or Judaism or other faiths may face criticism and ostracism, those who choose to leave Islam face problems that are much worse than merely people turning their backs on them, ex Muslims often face violence for leaving Islam. It is because those who choose to leave Islam are faced with such violence that I believe that it is a moral imperative that we in relatively free societies do all that we can to protect those who leave Islam.

The issue of ex Muslims and the threats and violence they are subjected to has been brought to the fore recently by a story from the Australian Daily Mail about a young woman who, dissatisfied with among other things Islam’s position on women’s rights, decided that Islam was not for her. Since she went public about her apostasy she has been subjected to death threats, rape threats and all manner of violently phrased comments towards her.

The Australian Daily Mail said:

A former international student who renounced Islam has revealed she receives death threats for leaving the religion and says hundreds of other women are living in fear. 

Zara Kay, who moved to Melbourne in 2012 to continue studying information technology and engineering, renounced her Muslim faith after realising the religion she was raised with was, in her opinion, anti-women and anti-gay.

The 26-year-old Tanzanian-raised founder of the Faithless Hijabi support group said there were hundreds of ex-Muslims in Australia, who live in fear of being ostracised, abused or even killed.

‘Apostasy is punishable by death in 13 countries. It’s either Islam or death,’ she told her Instagram followers on Sunday.

Ms Kay, who now lives in Sydney, has stepped up her campaign to support people like herself, after Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun was granted asylum in Canada, after fleeing to Thailand fearing her family would murder her for leaving Islam.

Ms Kay has, because of increased public awareness of the issues facing ex Muslims because of the Al-Qunun case, chosen the right time to step up her campaign. She’s right to highlight the problems that ex Muslims face which are much worse than the ostracism and criticism that ex Christians and ex Jews face from their communities. I’m very pleased to see Ms Kay emphasise the matter of death threats against apostates from Islam as this is an issue that has been ignored for far too long.

Ms Kay went on to detail some of the abuse that she had had from believing Muslims because of her decision to leave Islam and I hope that the general public will now be much more aware of the often hidden problem of violence directed at ex Muslims. It is a scandal that people like Ms Kay who are merely exercising the right to choose the peaceful faith path that suits them have been left without protection or support for so long.

I was gratified to read in the Daily Mail piece that Ms Kay has quite rightly taken aim at the use of the word ‘Islamophobia’ to shut down debate. She’s correct ‘Islamophobia’ has indeed become a ‘snarl word’ that doesn’t add to debate but is merely used to silence critics. The word ‘Islamophobia’ has become an analogue of the words ‘racist’, ‘homophobe’ or ‘globalist’ that various groups and sides in politics and society fling like spears at their opponents in order to shut them up, especially when someone is losing an argument. It is extremely good to see someone who comes from an Islamic background criticising this particular recently invented word and those who use it and the reasons why they use it.

As free societies we should make every effort to protect those in it who are exercising their rights to follow whatever peaceful religious path they choose. If we fail to do so and abandon ex Muslims to their sometimes grisly fate, then we can no longer consider ourselves as societies that are free but we instead will be societies where the violent hecklers veto of Islam takes precedence.

Ms Kay is a brave woman and her and those like her deserve both our respect and our protection. We must protect our ex Muslims because the alternative is to surrender to the same violent ideology that wants people like Ms Kay dead.