I don’t know much about Allam, but do you really see his baptism as that terrible a thing? Or, from the tone of your post, his extremely public baptism after his extremely public antagonism towards the religion of his youth? Both religions seek converts, and I don’t think it is inherently wrong to celebrate high-profile conversions. Perhaps your distaste is in the attitude of it?

If most of Islam is relatively moderate and interested in religious dialog, it doesn’t show. I think the situation parallels somewhat with the plight of Western Christianity vs the secular West. A small group of politically/religiously radicals speak most and loudest, but the silent majority does little to counteract the growing tension between extremist Christianity and secularism.

It is possible for both Christians and Muslims to be theologically orthodox, culturally relevant, and religiously tolerant. We either don’t speak loud enough, or religious moderation just isn’t as sexy to the media as extreme fundamentalism, religious hatred, or “God is Dead” militant atheism.

We may come from different religious backgrounds, but I hope we want similar growth from our respective traditions.