30 November 2011

Appeasing Islamist radicals imperils Western freedoms

Disturbing trends in ostensibly democratic nations are currently threatening our fundamental liberties of free speech. Western nations, intimidated by threats of violence from Islamic radicals, are re-evaluating the rights of citizens to criticize the beliefs of others with whom they disagree.

Consider the case in Australia, where it took hundreds of thousands of dollars and several years of litigation before charges were dropped against two pastors who ran a seminar on the virtues of Islam vis-a-vis Christianity. Lower courts had convicted them of "hate speech." The two pastors were exonerated, but are now impoverished.

The source of this growing movement against free speech is the anti-blasphemy laws that are being passed in predominantly Muslim countries. [The Post and Courier] Read more [via National Secular Society]