Here's an article from the AP wires that is frightening. A dutch Freedom Party member, Geert Wilders, made a film critical of Islam equating their behavior with fascism and comparing The Koran to Adolph Hilter's Mein Kampf. While it would be terribly wrong to indict all followers of Islam, the free discussion and criticism of Islamic culture is warranted as the Islamic Terrorist Movement is possibly the world's greatest security threat and has resulted in the death of tens of thousands innocent people around the world.
It is particularly ironic that just a few headlines later was an article about the edict from Melborne, Australia. His statements are not surprising for Islam, but sure seems weird coming from Australia. According to this cleric, it is perfectly okay for a man to beat his wife for disobedience and it is also okay to force his wife to have sex with him. In the Islamic world that's okay. In the civilized world, that's called RAPE. Okay, the knee-jerk reaction from liberals is that this is just one out of context event; however, through out the Islamic world, law establishes women as having less legal protection than men. Arranged marriages are the norm. In moderate Islamic countries, ladies must cover their hair. A little less moderate countries women must cover all but their eyes. Some are required to wear all black. Some even are required to wear burkas. The punishment for dress code violations -- beatings, stonings, or even worse. As the great 20th Century American philosopher, Casey Stengel noted, "You can look it up!"
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24946317-1243,00.html
Make no mistake about it, the historic figure of Mohammed is no nice guy. Read biographical information about him written by Muslim scholars themselves and see what his story is all about. He was no Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Gandhi, or Zen Master. He was a fierce warrior and polygamist.
While anyone can take passages out of the writings of any religion and find justification for cruel behavior, one would have to be totally ignorant in reading The Bible and not seeing a lot of heart and humanity. Whether it's the notion of turning the other cheek or the tale of the good samaritan, the scripture is full of tales of good deeds and compassion. One would not get the same warm feelings from reading the Koran as it explicitly condemns nonbelievers and speaks frequently of harsh punishment for those who do not submit to Allah. Afterall, the literal meaning of Moslem is "one who submits."
Political correctness is far more evil than the kinds of injustices it attempts to address. One person's hate speech is another person's declaration of protest. While bigotry, racism, and religious intolerance should not be tolerated, criminalizing such expression is more dangerous if for no other reason who draws the line between that which is free speech and that which crosses the line. While we know one should be punished for yelling "fire" in a a theater, even some of the most vile and hateful speech is better expressed and subsequently criticized than being pent up to find more perverse means of expression.
How quickly people forget, the flip side of free speech is that a person is responsible for the words he or she speaks. We are all compelled to speak out against those who speak hate, lie, and distort the truth.
Sadly, in Islamic culture such protest is not permitted. Speaking the truth even if it goes slightly against the prevailing established view can result in death or mutilation. Sadly, as the article link above shows, the Netherlands have taken one step in that direction.
We maintain at heart, the book of Islam is flawed scripture and that Mohammed, in Christian terms, should be considered a false prophet. As politically incorrect as those words are to some, we are not only asserting our first amendment right to free speech, but we are further speaking the truth not from a devote Christian point-of-view, but from a historical and objective perspective.
Western citizens should be skeptical and inquisitive when examining the world of Islam. Clearly, not all religions preach the same message. While it is unholy for "infidels" to read The Koran, we should take the time to learn about the history of Mohammed and see exactly what their holy book says. Its words are being used to justify genocide. Why?
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