Yes, here, but no, in Dar al-Islam

Submitted by Archimedes2 (Canada), Feb 6, 2008 at 18:20

If your comment, Monte, is about free expression and debate in the western, non-Islamized sphere, then I agree wholeheartedly: they do not have any such stranglehold on us; the only thing currently capable of shutting down free inquiry and debate on such issues is lack of will in men of good faith.

I qualify this by saying that up here in Canada, there are genuine attempts to bring these freedoms to heel by putting the Human Rights machinery into the service of sharia-based sensitivities -- but the attempt will fail and indeed will have the salubrious effect of leading to a loosening of the grip the HRC's were beginning to establish on our freedoms, thanks to a couple of good men (Steyn and Levant) and a public whose patience with this kind of "lawfare" nonsense has long since run out.

But if you mean that Islam itself has nil effect on such freedoms, I urge you to think again. In the world of Islam, where sharia or Islamic sentiment reigns supreme, there is no freedom of expression. The case of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh in Afghanistan: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/sentenced-to-death-afghan-who-dared-to-read-about-womens-rights-775972.html is merely the currently most public example of a story of suppression of free speech happening all over the world wherever Islam has gained some measure of control over society. I agree that we are having a good discussion, freely engaged. Let us enjoy, and exercise, our freedom while we have it! (And thereby preserve that freedom)

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