Tuesday, February 17, 2009



Indians must not tell the truth about Mohammed

The religion of peace at work in India:
"The editor and publisher of The Statesman, a highly respected Kolkata based English daily, have been arrested on charges of "hurting the religious feelings" of Muslims because they printed a piece written last month by Independent columnist Johann Hari.

Hari, a liberal atheist, penned the comment piece, "Why should I respect oppressive religions?", at the end of January and it was later syndicated by The Statesman. In the article, Hari (somewhat prophetically) lamented how the right to criticise a religion is being steadily eroded around the world.

Muslim protestors in Kolkata, West Bengal, have been causing havoc outside The Statesman's offices since it ran the article on Feb 5th and police have even used baton charges to disperse them. Staff at The Statesman have had to barricade their front doors for much of the past three days and rely on police escorts to get them to their workplace, which is situated just opposite the Tipu Sultan Masjid, Kolkata's largest mosque.

In his piece Hari defends the right to criticise all religions, including Islam, Judaism and Christianity. But the Muslim protestors in Kolkata appear to have been particularly upset by a paragraph that talks about the sexual history of the prophet Muhammad. Hari writes: "All people deserve respect, but not all ideas do. I don't respect the idea that a man was born of a virgin, walked on water and rose from the dead. I don't respect the idea that we should follow a "Prophet" who at the age of 53 had sex with a nine-year old girl, and ordered the murder of whole villages of Jews because they wouldn't follow him."

Ravindra Kumar and Anand Sinha, The Statesman's editor and publisher, appeared in court today and were granted bail.

As the world's largest democracy freedom of speech is guaranteed in India's constitution but "outraging religious feelings" is technically illegal under section 295 A of the Indian Penal Code. In a country where inter-communal tensions can often spill over into horrendous violence, 295 A is seen as a way of heading off tension between religious communities and stopping firebrands from inciting violence. But it is often also used by religious hardliners, including both Hindus and Muslims, to stifle open criticism and discourse of religious matters in a country where religion plays an incredibly vital role.

Source

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Simply put, as long as Islam exists, there cannot be freedom of religion or freedom of speech. By its very nature, Islam prohibits any self-examination or self-criticism, be it from within or without. And Muslims must seek retribution (aka death) to any who do so. It's in Islamic law--look it up. There is no way constitutional law and Islamic law can co-exist in harmony. One must give way to the other.

Anonymous said...

The religion of peace and tolerence? (LOL!!) The best way, in fact the only way, to deal with Islam, is to treat them "exactly" as they treat others. Yes, we'll need to reinstate the guillotine on a global scale, but i don't see any problem, especially with the great results that we can be assured of.

Anonymous said...

Interesting. The article makes no mention of Muhammad at all - his name doesn't appear once. Muslims must recognise the unspecified "prophet" from the comment that at the age of 53 he had sex with a nine-year old girl, and that he ordered the murder of whole villages of Jews. That means that they must agree with the statements. Why then the anger and intimidation?

Anonymous said...

Because they know it to be true.

Anonymous said...

And what about christians can a person be arrested for offending christians?

Anonymous said...

yes - blasphemy laws apply in some "christian" countries/states, and some legal cases have been successful; while such laws remain intimidating to free speech/free expression.