[Skybird]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...686906,00.html

The interesting thing about Kelek is that she defends all of the terms that form the basis of German society: freedom, democracy, enlightenment, secular order, civil society. Yet in doing so, she draws harsh criticism from Germans. She's a woman who makes people uneasy. But why?
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Oddly enough one of the things that can make a conversation with Kelek somewhat disconcerting is the enthusiasm with which she praises freedom. It's unfamiliar because Germans don't talk this way anymore.
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It pains Kelek that she rarely meets Germans capable of mentioning the word "freedom" without immediately alluding to the downsides, whether it be obsessive consumption or pornography. Perhaps it's necessary to have experienced a lack of freedom in order to have such enthusiasm for it. And once the unease subsides, it's actually gratifying to experience Kelek's enthusiasm for the foundations of Western society.
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There are two reasons, it seems, why Germans often make lousy defenders of their own values -- their detachment and their fear of being accused of intolerance. But a free society needs enthusiasts like Kelek. Otherwise, it risks becoming cynical.
Kelek finds herself in a dilemma familiar to all those who defend freedom and tolerance -- namely, that freedom can never be complete freedom, and tolerance never complete tolerance. This means that a rational person who fights for freedom and tolerance is necessarily also always fighting for intolerance and a lack of freedom. In other words, those who fight for tolerance must also be intolerant of those who are intolerant.
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What happens in mosques and Koran schools, she adds, should be transparent and founded on Germany's democratic constitutional order. "Religion," she declares, "is part of freedom. It does not stand above it."