Putting Free Speech To The Test, Danish Style. Again.

The folks who pine for the 12th Century will not be happy about this - some Danes burn Mohammad in effigy. I expect the same reaction as before.

Those crazy Danes. Don't they know that freedom of speech, like freedom of religion, does not apply when it upsets the 12th Century boys. While what the Danes did will likely cause the burning of embassies, nobody should get their hajib in a wad when the 12th Century Fan Club sees fit to call another Faith the sons of pigs and monkeys , engage in state-sponsored religious persecutions, shred religious texts, destroy religious icons, issue death threats, and threaten to destroy other’s houses of worship. Why? Because they are..... well, they are just better then us, that's why. (And they claim to understand science better than we do, too.)

Look, I do not like the desecration of an article Faith, anyone's Faith, or anyone calling for persecution of another based on their Faith. (I do not want to see a “Mohammad free” Denmark any more than I want to see a “Christian free” Saudi Arabia.) What these Danes did is dumb. I do not like this for the same reason I do not like people burning the American flag, or putting a crucifix in a bottle of piss and calling it art. To me, it's desecration. But, it is also speech, just like what I am engaged in here. So to ensure that my right to speak is equally protected, I oppose any move to ban flag-burning or objectionable art, or.... burning prophets. Like it or not, what these Danes did was speech, too. Dumb speech, maybe, but in a rule-of-law based, secular democracy, it is protected speech none-the-less. Or, should be. And I think the question this raises goes to the heart of the matter: how far will a rule-of-law based, secular democracy go to defend a principle of human rights? In the past, not very far - especially when the principle was threatened with violence. And that course only begats more violence, not less.


We must be clear here. Because they fear the modern world and freedom, what Radical Islamists want is submission to their way - a way back to their glories of the 12th century - and they are wiling to use violence to achieve it. They have intimidated most all moderate, secular Muslims into silence. They do not want a multi-cultural society built on tolerance and respect. They do not want to negotiate, or dialogue, or look for understanding. They do not seek common ground. And they don't give a damn about the Millennium Development Goals. What they demand is that we submit to their agenda alone or, at best, live as second-class citizens under their control. I, for one, will not do that. I live in the 21st century; I live in a Free Society; I am a Christian. And I intend to remain that way.