Free Speech

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/arti cle-1103029/British-missionary-couple-sentence d-years-hard-labour-criticising-Gambian-govern ment.html

Are you not glad that we live in a country where free speech is tolerated?

But the question we must ask is, if it is left to some, how long will we continue to enjoy this freedom?

[123everton]

Left to who?

[Gromit]

Yes, I agree we should guard our freedom of speech from those who wish to deny it.

Next time a religious preacher from another land is reported to have called for the over throw of our system, and the inevitable dimwits come on here and say he should be imprisoned or worse, we can remember this case and say 'hold on a moment, we are not as backward as Gambia, we can tolerate a different opinion'.

The Christian Missionaries in Gambia seem to have been very ignorant of laws of the land to which they were guests. they pleaded guilty to "...intent to bring hatred or contempt against the president or the government". This sounds widely beyond their remit of spreading Christianity to the heathens.

It is not long ago that Christian Missionaries were actively encouraging atrocities in Rwanda, so you can't blame the Gambians for being a bit wary of them.

[jno]

so you're okay with Abu Hamza calling for the downfall of western civilisation? Or you would prefer it to be a punishable offence?

[birdie1971]

anotheoldgit � You seem to think that we live in a world where we have the right to free speech.

Oh dear.

From the United Nations � Recently, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution against Defamation of Religion. Although this could in theory apply to all religions, the only religion specifically mentioned was Islam (with five occurrences of the words �Islam or �Islamic� and five occurrences of forms of �Muslim�), and the resolution itself was pushed forward by the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Here�s a quote from the draft resolution:

�The General Assembly�[stresses] the need to effectively combat defamation of all religions, Islam and Muslims in particular; �[Emphasizes] that everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which should be exercised with responsibility and may therefore be subject to limitations as provided by law and necessary for respect of the rights or reputations of others, protection of national security or of public order, public health or morals and respect for religions and beliefs;�.�

Nowhere does this document uphold the right to express factual information which is negative, such as the fact that all four schools of Sharia require Jihad. Such information could certainly be taken as defamatory, but it is also true, relevant, and crucial for the world to know when Jihadists have declared war on the infidels (ie. everyone who isn�t a Muslim).

This comes hot on the heals of a resolution by the EU which wants to make it illegal to criticize a person�s religion. What religious group do you imagine this piece of legislation originated from?

Go on, have a guess...