There is an article here from "Religion News" blog that struck home with me and I would like to reprint it along with some comments the blog made about the political side of Islam.The Muslim world has created a battle plan to defend its religion from political cartoonists and bigots.
Concerned about what they see as a rise in the defamation of Islam, leaders of the world’s Muslim nations are considering taking legal action against those that slight their religion or its sacred symbols.Then the Religious News blog said; "We’ll use our right to Free Speech to say this:"
It was a key issue during a two-day summit that ended Friday in Dakar, Senegal’s capital.
“I don’t think freedom of expression should mean freedom from blasphemy,” said Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade, the chairman of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference.
“There can be no freedom without limits.”
Delegates were given a voluminous report by the OIC that recorded anti-Islamic speech and actions from around the world. The report concludes that Islam is under attack and that a defense must be mounted.
“Muslims are being targeted by a campaign of defamation, denigration, stereotyping, intolerance and discrimination,” charged Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary general of the group.
The report urges the creation of a “legal instrument” to crack down on defamation of Islam.
Some delegates point to laws in Europe criminalizing the denial of the Holocaust and other anti-Semitic rhetoric.
They also point to articles within various U.N. charters that condemn discrimination based on religion and argue that these should be ramped up.
“In our relation with the Western world, we are going through a difficult time,” Ihsanoglu told the summit’s general assembly.
“Islamophobia cannot be dealt with only through cultural activities but (through) a robust political engagement.”
In the name of Islam countless Muslims use any and every opportunity to stage violent protests, issue death threats, destroy property, murder, and commit other acts of terrorism.
They go nuts (yes, nuts) over cartoons and teddy bears, while they generally keep quiet over acts of terrorism and other human rights violations committed by fellow members of their so-called ‘religion of peace.’
If Muslims want to curtail or deny free speech, they must be prepared to be held accountable for the hate speech produced by Muslims — including its hateful cartoons — targeted against non-Muslims.
The Muslim leaders are attempting to demand redress from nations such as Denmark, which allowed the publication of cartoons portraying the Prophet Muhammad in 2006 and again last month, to the fury of the Muslim world.
Although the legal measures being considered have not been spelled out, the idea pits many Muslims against principles of freedom of speech enshrined in the constitutions of numerous Western governments.
On a personal note here....... This seems to be another attempt by Muslim societies to impose their values on other groups and only further displays the intolerance we can expect from them until they decide to enter the twenty first century. One statement from the Muslims pretty will sums it up: "There can be no freedom without limits!" And there lies the crux of the whole problem. We in the West have separated religion and state while the Islamic countries still have everything under their religious jurisdiction and will fight like hell to keep it that way.
Don't expect the Religious Hierarchy to give up without one Mother of a fight!
AND FINALLY THIS WORD FROM ANOTHER BLOG! (He sums it up pretty good!)
An open letter to Muslim extremist zealots the world over, from the folks at Irregular Times...Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com
"Since we placed up our several articles of new, original cartoons of the Islamic prophet Mohammed, we have received many messages of praise and condemnation for our act. We thank those who have expressed their support, and for those who have condemned us as satanic infidels in accord with the devil.
To any fundamentalist, we will send the same message. We will not kow-tow to anyone who tries to make us follow the rules of their religion, whether that religion is Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, or Buddhism.
Hell, if the Wiccans told us we had to bend low in respect of their religious practices, we’d tell them to go stick their heads in the mud, too.
It is bad enough that the Islamic world thinks it has the right to tell the rest of us what we can say and what we cannot say. Even worse, the Bush White House is going along with the radical Imams, and is telling everyone to apologize for a few European cartoons.
Cartoons don’t cause problems - death threats do.
So, we’re doing the only thing it makes sense to do when violent radicals try to silence us with threats of violence. We are getting louder. No one will deter us from speaking our minds.
We will say what we want to say about any religion, and we won’t apologize for the freedom to do so. We will draw anything that we want to draw, and if people want to try to come into our homes to slaughter us as a result, let them come.
I refuse to raise my children in a way that teaches them to be afraid of bullies.
I’m not going to have my children live in a world where they feel that they do not have the right to speak their minds. Nothing is above criticism and satire. Not me. Not you. Not the prophet Mohammed.
So, follow your own religious laws, if you must, but when you demand that I follow them, I will exercise my constitutional right to make fun of you as much as I want.
Fundamentalist Muslims: Got a problem with it? Tough. Your religion is not my religion, and you’d better get used to it, because I will have my head cut off before I submit to you.
So, kill me now, or stop threatening me, and leave me alone so that I can live in freedom without hearing your shrill whining...........!"
Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com
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