Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Australian Muslim Group Warns of "Worrying" Response to Ayaan Hirsi Ali's
Forthcoming Visit:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_05_27-2007_06_02.shtml#1180464590
[1]The Australian (a newspaper) reports
:
Nada Roude, of the NSW Islamic Council, said Hirsi Ali's comments
on the prophet Mohammed were a "no-go zone".
"They (prophets) are not just like you and me, they have special
status -- you're supposed to show respect," Ms Roude said.
"There have to be boundaries in how far you go in respecting
other's beliefs. The reaction from the community is likely to be
quite worrying." ...
Ms Roude said there seemed to be a double standard about who was
allowed to visit Australia, particularly as Hirsi Ali's visit
appeared to have the potential to incite hatred.
"Muslims are not treated the same," she said. "There are a set of
rules for one community and another for the rest of the community.
Anyone who causes harm to our society because they have the right
to express their opinion is not welcome." ...
A tip: When you warn that your religious community will respond to
critical speech in a "worrying" way, it is that response -- and your
use of that response as an attempt to deter such speech -- that has
the most potential to incite hostility. Oddly enough, citizens of a
free country are often hostile (sometimes even to the point of hatred)
to ideologies that demand suppression of critical religious views. And
if your view is that Islam is a religion of peace, and that the
overwhelming majority of Muslims don't support religious violence,
then condemn the (by hypothesis) small and unrepresentative segment of
the community that is likely to act violently rather than using the
"reaction from the community" as a threat in your political advocacy.
As to one set of rules for one community and another for the rest of
the community, does Australia really try to exclude people who harshly
criticize Christianity, or depict Jesus in a blasphemous light?
Coercive government actions to restrict blasphemy of Christianity are
not completely unheard of in recent decades in Western democracies --
see [2]Otto-Preminger-Institut v. Austria, in which the European Court
of Human Rights upheld such an action (in 1994) -- but I've heard of
none in Australia, nor any attempts to exclude visitors to Australia
based on their blasphemous religious speech. And if Australia does
allow free speech on religious matters, then who is the one who's
seeking "a set of rules for one community and another for the rest of
the community"?
Thanks to [3]InstaPundit and to [4]Andrew Bolt's blog at the Herald
Sun for the pointer.
References
1. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21811256-16947,00.html
2. http://www.neps.ru/node/760
3. http://instapundit.com/archives2/005702.php
4.
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/shut_up_about_islam_and_be_safe/
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