Does religious tolerance dictate silence about those things that a faith says may not be discussed? Does the freedom to speak critically about historical figures, theology, and uncomfortable truths endure even when such speech offends religious believers? That is an issue that is being faced today in France, and in much of the Western world.

Most, I suspect, would agree that murders, looters, polygamists and such deserve little respect. Why then cannot there be an honest debate over whether Mohammed was -- as M. Redeker alleges -- a "merciless warlord, a looter, a mass murderer of Jews and a polygamist"? Simply because Islam allows of no debate when it comes to Allah, his prophet, and his word. And the French government is fine with that.

That's where provocateurs like M. Redeker come in. Redeker is simply trying to kick-start that debate, even at the price of his own hide. That takes guts, I think, something the French politicians lack. And something Muslim intellectuals like Prof. Tariq Ramadan, the French university lecturer, cannot comprehend. Ramadan ominously warned M. Redeker that he can write what he likes, "but he must know what he wanted -- he signed a stupidly provocative text."

It is clear, in the case of Tariq Ramadan, that those who speak uncomfortable truths or dare to critically examine things held sacred by some believers deserve to be attacked verbally and physically – and indeed have chosen a course to action that merits such assaults and even death. Strangely enough, Ramadan does not extend his crabbed view of freedom to those who, like himself, espouse the hateful teachings of jihadi Islamism. After all, he is currently suing in a federal court demanding that he be allowed to travel to the US to take a position at a major university, and makes the claim that a denial of a visa is illegitimate because it is based upon a desire to censor his views. Perhaps we simply need to clarify to this Islamist swine that until he learns to respect the rights of non-Muslims to speak negatively about Islam (or any other religion), he is not welcome on our continent.

Posted by: Greg at 09:24 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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