Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa against Salman Rushdie and the massacre of the staff of Charlie Hebdo are well-known instances of Islamist use of violence, or threats of violence, to punish blasphemy. Less violent, but more insidious, have been other attempts to silence critics of Islam, including the separate convictions of two Austrian politicians for insulting Muhammad. Denis MacEoin comments on these and other incidents, and their implications:
The chief threat to free speech today comes from a combination of radical Islamic censorship and Western political correctness.
Over the past century and more, Western societies have built up a consensus on the centrality of freedom of expression. . . . [But] many Muslim bodies—notably the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)—have been working hard for years to render Islam the only religion, political system, and ideology in the world that may not be questioned with impunity. They have tried—and are in many respects succeeding—to ring-fence Islam as a creed beyond criticism, while reserving for themselves the right to condemn Christians, Jews, Hindus, democrats, liberals, women, gays, or anyone else in often vile, even violent language. Should anyone say anything that seems to them disrespectful of their faith, he or she will at once be declared an “Islamophobe.” . . .
The OIC has succeeded in winning a UN Human Rights Council resolution that makes “defamation of religion” (read: blasphemy in the eyes of its followers) a crime. But the OIC knows full well that only Muslims are likely to use Western laws to deny free speech about their own faith. . . .
The greatest defense of our democracy, our freedom, our openness to political and religious debate, and our longing to live in an open society without hindrance—namely freedom of expression—is now under serious threat. . . . Since the edict against Salman Rushdie, there is no way of calculating how many books have been shelved, how many television documentaries have never been aired, how many film scripts have been tossed in the waste bin, how many conferences have been canceled—or how many killers are waiting in the wings for the next book, or poem, or song, or sport that will transgress the strictures of Islamic law and doctrine.
Read more on Gatestone: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8280/islamic-fundamentalism-free-speech