Propagating murder is not an expression of free speech!

In an ironic twist, radical muslims in the US are using the above slogan against those who act against islamic aggression… but perhaps, even without considering, amongst numerous others, Salman Rushdie and the 75 y.o. Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard who have their lives at risk, some of these images speak for themselves:

… or to rephrase this in the more usual Orwellian newspeak doublethink

‘WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH’

added
I was also quite surprised to read the comments by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran on the supposed ignorance of the common folk in France who oppose islam, claiming that “these are people who have never encountered Muslims”: in France (where the Cardinal is located), unless one has never entered any significant city in that country, it has become impossible to NOT have encountered a significant number of muslims!

To have a Christian Cardinal omit to explicitly negate slavery in general, or the presentation of Christ as ‘slave to allah’ is rather worrying!

The concern about islam is generally not due to ignorance, but rather to observation as to the engagement of a significant minority that seem to verbalise or display explicit support for the violent acts of an even smaller minority. It is indeed the case that ‘most muslims are not terrorists’, and that there are honourable people everywhere – even despite their religion, whether this be islam, communism or membership to a nazi party. This does not mean that we cannot acknowledge the worth of the person qua person whilst at the same time awake to the detrimental worldview held (especially if a book it holds ‘sacred’ admonished the killing of fellow human beings). In addition, that most muslims are indeed not terrorists has to be taken in conjunction with an awareness that most terrorists in the West have of recent times been muslims.

While several european countries are currently debating the visibility of Islam, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran declared to the press agency I.Media that for many this fear is born of “ignorance”. Questioned on the growing “fear” in Europe with respect to Islam, as seen in the reactions in the debate over the burka and the minarets, Cardinal Tauran affirmed that “the problem in these affairs” is the “ignorance of the people who are opposed to Islam”. “These are people”, laments the French cardinal, “who have never encountered Muslims and who form their opinions based on what they see and hear on television.” Cardinal Tauran also deplores “the general lack of culture, especially of religious culture” in the political European world. Recalling to mind that “most Muslims are not terrorists”, the president of the pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue invites us to “see them as partners”.

 

‘IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ISLAM TO EMBRACE THE LIBERTIES REQUIRED FOR CITIZENS OF A MODERN STATE, AND NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND’