Monday, March 19, 2007

Must not Criticize Islam

Talk censored but reasons given vary:

"A history professor who has written controversially about Islam had an invitation to speak at George Mason University withdrawn, according to news reports, but the talk apparently will be rescheduled.

John D. Lewis, an assistant professor of history at Ashland University, in Ohio, had been scheduled to speak on February 28 on the topic "No Substitute for Victory: The Defeat of Islamic Totalitarianism."

But some Muslim students protested, according to the Associated Press, and when the university discovered that the charter of the student group that was sponsoring Mr. Lewis's talk had lapsed, the invitation was rescinded....

The exact nature and source of the complaints against Mr. Lewis's scheduled appearance last month were unclear on Sunday.

A spokesman for George Mason told the AP that Mr. Lewis had not been barred from the campus. "We just don't want any disruptions to classes or anything like that," the spokesman, Daniel Walsch, said. "We're certainly not going to stand in the way of him coming here."

Source