Eboo Patel, a Beacon author who blogs at the Washington Post/Newsweek website, has a a fiery post about the controversial author Ayaan Hirsi Ali, whose criticism of Islam and embrace of Western values are, in Patel's view, based on misconceptions about what both Islam and the West stand for:

To all those who claim Ayaan Hirsi Ali is the new face of the West:

If your ulterior motive is to deepen a narrative intended to make Muslims in North America and Europe seem and feel forever foreign - to write an entire religion out of entire continents for the foreseeable future - I suggest you reflect deeply on your bedrock principles and your core identity.

If you think the West is about marginalizing large groups of people and maligning their traditions, then Ayaan Hirsi Ali is defending it. If you believe, as I do, that the West is characterized by reason and pluralism, then Ayaan Hirsi Ali is attacking its essence.