|
© Copyright - material in this site may not be reproduced in any media without the express permission of the Web Master. Care has been taken by this site to ensure that all necessary copyright permissions have been obtained. If this is not the case in any instance, this is an inadvertent error. Please contact the Web Master and this will be rectified. |
Saying "Boo!" to the Goose We have an expression in Britain that someone is so nervous "they wouldn't say 'boo!' to a goose." David Blunkett's announcement to the Labour Party Congress that legislation would be introduced to outlaw incitement to religious hatred is welcome in many ways but not without its own problems and dangers. Clearly, this is the Government's reaction to the deplorable attacks on Muslims which has occasionally surfaced since 11 September. This nervousness is understandable but I submit that the proposed law will be likely to repress fair comment and freedom of speech in matters of religion. The intimidation of the Islamist goose is that no one had better upset Muslim sensibilities. How far is this from the much abused law in Pakistan that nothing derogatory must be said or written about Mohammed, (the death penalty applies)? This is definitely one goose we must shout "boo!" at. Of course, "what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander," so if Christians get offended by derogatory comments about Christ in the media (and there are many), they also should be circumspect about demanding legal redress. When David Blunkett was asked about these matters he, fairly, tried to make a distinction between incitement to hatred and criticising a religion's beliefs and practices. However, with the politically correct "victim mentality" so prevalent in our country and the confusion of religion with culture, I think it will become increasingly difficult to defend fair comment if this is seen to upset someone. This will seriously muddy the waters of freedom of speech if the English distaste for controversy shies away for the "goose's" angry public protests. The case of the "Satanic Verses" and Salman Rushdie comes to mind. One thing is for sure ... if this law does come to the statute books and if hardline Muslims start using it then Christians will need to as well. This might be a realistic prospect if it were not for the fact that many western Christians seem to be quite unaffected by any kind of attack on the Faith. This is partly because, of course, the adherence to the faith "once delivered to the saints" is so weak amongst many such Christians. Perhaps then we should see a widening of the blasphemy law as yet another step along the road to an Islamist state and shariah law. Wake up Christians before it is too late! Orthodox come out of your ethnic shells and see here what happened to your own countries so many years ago! We have all been warned. |
|
