The Right to Criticise Religion

More offended Muslims:

The editor and publisher of a top English-language Indian daily have been arrested on charges of "hurting the religious feelings" of Muslims.

The Statesman's editor Ravindra Kumar and publisher Anand Sinha were detained in Calcutta after complaints.

Muslims said they were upset with the Statesman for reproducing an article from the UK's Independent daily in its 5 February edition.

The article was entitled: "Why should I respect these oppressive religions?"

It concerns the erosion of the right to criticise religions.

In it, the author, Johann Hari, writes: "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."

Mr Kumar and Mr Sinha appeared in court on Wednesday and were granted bail.

Angry Muslims have been demonstrating in front of the offices of the Statesman since its republication of the article.

Police have broken up the demonstrations using baton charges several times this week.

Here's Johann's original article. It's worth a read.

The right to criticise religion is being slowly doused in acid.

Indeed it is.

Comments

[Bob-B]

These people never explain why it's just religious commitments that should be immune from criticism. Why are they different from political, social, cultural, sporting etc. commitments?

[Noga]

Because they are completely based on irrational unprovable premises? Since they cannot be explained, they must be accepted, or else...

[Noga]

Ex.

"...al-Azhar is a university practicing institutional apartheid. The institution is banned for Jews and Copts, not only the department of theology, but also medicine, economics and agriculture. And speaking about offending religious sensibilities: al-Azhar has shown no willingness to abandon the part of the sharia providing Muslims with the obligation to insult non-Muslims’ religious feelings, while at the same time insisting that non-Muslims offending Muslims’ religious sensibilities should be punished."

http://pajamasmedia.com/flemmingrose/2008/02/28/the_vatican_joins_the_fight_ag/

[Trofim]

There's an excellent article, surprisingly, in the Independent. It's almost like hearing normal people speak:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/its-pc-gone-mad-how-did-taking-offence-become-a-national-obsession-1607060.html

Incidentally, when I first looked at it this morning, there was a large picture of a Robertson's golliwog at the top of the page. It's gone now.