Muslims can burn Bibles and turn them into toilet paper, but Pastor Terry Jones’ was pressured into cancelling his plans for a “Burn A Koran Day” by the Obama administration for fear of Muslim violence in response. Burning Korans is most likely not the American way to deal with the the spread of radical Islam, yet the fact that our government would pressure the Pastor to cancel the plans raises an interesting question.
How does our constitutionally-protected freedom of expression figure into this? Is it normal that the Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris should be in danger and on the run because she created “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” and now a fatwa is hanging over her head? And what about the many other artists and writers who are forced to censor their works for fear of ending up like Theo van Gogh, murdered in broad daylight by a Muslim after putting out a film critical of Islam’s repression of women?
Freedom of speech is enshrined in the American founding documents. Should we keep giving up our personal liberties in the face of a bullying radical Islam? Read more on this important issue and what can be done about it in the below articles and take a look at the gasp-inducing clips—watch out, the first one contains frightening images and the second one contains frightening words.
How can you make a difference? Help us educate others—forward this to three friends so they can subscribe. Also, learn more about our all-new coverage on Shariah: The Threat to America, the Team B II report.
"Rushdie Rules" Reach Florida
By Daniel Pipes |
Pastor Terry Jones' plan to burn copies of the Koran at his church in Gainesville, Florida, let it be emphasized, is a distasteful act that fits an ugly tradition. That said, two other points need be noted: Buying books and then burning them is an entirely legal act in the United States. Second, David Petraeus, Robert Gates, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama pressured Jones to cancel only because they feared Muslim violence against Americans if he proceeded. Indeed, despite Mr. Jones calling off the Koran burning, 5 Afghans and 14 Kashmiris died in protests against his plans.
That violence stems from Islamic law, the Shariah, which insists that Islam, and the Koran in particular, enjoy a privileged status. Islam ferociously punishes anyone, Muslim or non-Muslim, who trespasses against Islam's sanctity. Codes in Muslim-majority states generally reflect this privilege; for example, Pakistan's blasphemy law, 295-C, punishes derogatory remarks about Muhammad with execution.
No less important, Shariah denigrates the sanctities of other religions, a tradition manifested in recent years by the destruction of the Buddhist Bamiyan statues and the desecration of the Jewish Tomb of Joseph and the Christian Church of the Nativity. A 2003 decree ruled the Bible suitable for use by Muslims when cleaning after defecation. Iranian authorities reportedly burned hundreds of Bibles in May. This imbalance, whereby Islam enjoys immunity and other religions are disparaged, has long prevailed in Muslim-majority countries.  |
It's Time to Fight Back Against Death Threats by Islamic Extremist
By Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Daniel Huff |
Earlier this year, after Comedy Central altered an episode of "South Park" that had prompted threats because of the way it depicted Islam's prophet Muhammad, Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris proposed an "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day." The idea was, as she put it, to stand up for the 1st Amendment and "water down the pool of targets" for extremists.
The proposal got Norris targeted for assassination by radical Yemeni American cleric Anwar Awlaki, who has been linked to the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight and also to several of the 9/11 hijackers. This month, after warnings from the FBI, Norris went into hiding. The Seattle Weekly said that Norris was "moving, changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity." It's time for free-speech advocates to take a page from the abortion rights movement's playbook. In the 1990s, abortion providers faced the same sort of intimidation tactics and did not succumb. Instead, they lobbied for a federal law making it a crime to threaten people exercising reproductive rights and permitting victims to sue for damages. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE, passed in 1994 by solid bipartisan margins. A similar act is needed to cover threats against free-speech rights. |
Take Action! |
1. With each newsletter, we are educating 40,000 subscribers. Help us make others aware of these critical issues by simply forwarding this newsletter to at least three friends. Invite them to subscribe and check out our website at radicalislam.org.
2. Visit our all-new coverage on the just-released and high-profile report called Shariah: The Threat to America. Read whatever you can and don’t forget to share it with others. You can do that by simply posting the link to Facebook, Twitter, and the like. It is imperative that we understand what’s happening to our freedoms in our land. After all, don’t we want America to stay American?
|
|
Clip 1 - Gory images, be careful. Sharia and American freedoms?!
Clip 2 - Which flag over the white house?
|
|
|
|
In This Issue
Featured on RadicalIslam.org
On RadicalIslam.org
The Third Jihad
Radical Islam's Vision for America
is a documentary that alerts Americans to the danger radical Islam poses to the United States and to Western civilization as a whole. |
Watch The Third Jihad Trailer |
|
About RadicalIslam.org
RadicalIslam.org, the flagship education tool of the Clarion Fund, was developed to spread awareness about the threat of Radical Islam in the United States and to provide practical response tools. The portal acts as a social networking tool, uniting individuals across America to take a stand against Radical Islam. Users are encouraged to express themselves through comments on website blogs. RadicalIslam.org also has a live-blogging presence on Twitter: No2RadicalIslam. |
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment