There's no Freedom of Religion, if there's no Freedom of Speech!
Reader comment on item: Not Child's Play: The Teddy-Bear Intifada

Submitted by lulando (Germany), Dec 3, 2007 at 14:13

Incidents like these prove how much a personality like the reformer Martin Luther is needed to adjust this tribal religion and free it from customs, views and teachings derived from a long lost time, thus allowing it to bloom into the modern religion of peace Islam claims to be.

Without risking my life - at least in good, old Europe - I can discuss with every Christian I know, whether Jesus Christ is a God, the God or the Son of God or maybe simply a human being that possibly even didn't exist, and at the very same time, it is not possible to call an innocent child's teddy bear Muhammad in Sudan.

The rumor going on in the Islamic Community is, that the reputation of Islam suffered in the Western world since 911 due to a misunderstanding of the religion and terrorists using Islam, i.e. abusing it.

But I say, this jump is not far enough.

If Islam and Muslims continue to impose their private, religious beliefs on others, a coexistence will not be possible. The Islamic world has to recognize and accept that their prophet and their perception of the truth is only theirs.

Many people on this wonderful planet do not care about the man - including myself.

Reactions like these make the acceptance of Islam even harder, or near impossible.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.