I have been following the debate on apostasy and I feel that whole debate is missing one basic but important point in the arguments presented. What we are talking about is religion or faith. There are many different types of religion in the world and each group of followers believes theirs is the true path to heaven or enlightenment, or whatever.

I have no issue with this. It is basically a person's right to hold religious beliefs according to his or her faith. And that is the key word - faith. No religion is more right than another and we are all equally entitled to follow our own version of what we believe. What needs to be remembered is that religions all hold different things to be true.

They can't all be right for we are talking about faith, not facts. One person may hold an opinion on religion that is totally different to another's. Neither is right and neither is wrong. It is simply what they happen to believe in. In other words, the system of beliefs and the life choices that lead a person, are in his opinion right.

Some hold the opinion that the Quran is the word of God, others hold the opinion that Jesus was the Son of God, still others hold the opinion that the Messiah is still coming. All are fully entitled to do so.

This is an important point we are missing in discussing the apostasy issue. Arguing over what the Quran says or which scholar interpreted what is frankly irrelevant I'm afraid. If you believe the Quran to be the word of God so be it, that is your right.

But how can that give you the right to kill someone who does not believe in the same thing as you? Those who propose the death penalty for apostates are in effect saying that it is my opinion that the Quran is the word of God and therefore I am entitled to kill you if you choose a different opinion on matters of faith. This is clearly a ridiculous proposition for since when does any civilised system propose that we can kill people who do not share our opinion?