Well, it appears that another Canadian Journalist, Mark Steyn, is being dragged before at least two human rights councils in Canada (yes, they have more than one). His offense is this article, an excerpt from his book America Alone, which is, by the way, on my wish list. This is what happens when political correctness and willful ignorance about the threats of Islamic fundamentalism are combined with bureaucratic systems that have as much power as a real court.

Labels: Islam, Politics

Ezra Levant, the conservative, Jewish editor of the Western Standard, a magazine that used to be in print in Canada but is now only online, is being investigated by the Canadian Human Rights Commission for publishing the Mohammed cartoons in his magazine in 2006. Mr. Levant does an amazing job in his defense, nailing the Canadian government to the wall for interrogating him for thought crimes and attempting to censor his freedoms. I applaud Mr. Levant in his efforts to stand up to Orwellian behavior and hope that he has success in his endeavors. I'll leave you with an excerpt from his opening statement, and I highly encourage you to watch the videos he has on YouTube and read his website.

I am here at this government interrogation under protest. It is my position that the government has no legal or moral authority to interrogate me or anyone else for publishing these words and pictures. That is a violation of my ancient and inalienable freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and in this case, religious freedom and the separation of mosque and state. It is especially perverted that a bureaucracy calling itself the Alberta human rights commission would be the government agency violating my human rights....

We have a heritage of free speech that we inherited from Great Britain that goes back to the year 1215 and the Magna Carta. We have a heritage of eight hundred years of British common law protection for speech, augmented by 250 years of common law in Canada....

For a government bureaucrat to call any publisher or anyone else to an interrogation to be quizzed about his political or religious expression is a violation of 800 years of common law, a Universal Declaration of Rights, a Bill of Rights and a Charter of Rights. This commission is applying Saudi values, not Canadian values....

Labels: Islam, Politics

Abdul Rahman, the Afghan Christian who was put on trial for becoming a Christian and was likely to receive a death sentence, has successfuly fled to Italy and is begin given asylum. Kol hakavod (all honor) to Italy for granting him asylum, and kol tuv (all the best) to Rahman.

Labels: Islam

Investor’s Business Daily has published a great article that provides a wonderful follow-up on my earlier post about Islam. The author of the article says that the best way for moderate Muslims to show us that Islam is not a religion of war is for those Muslims to answer some important questions for us, for instance:

Is it true that 26 chapters of the Quran deal with jihad, a fight able-bodied believers are obligated to join (Surah 2:216), and that the text orders Muslims to "instill terror into the hearts of the unbeliever" and to "smite above their necks" (8:12)?

Is the "test" of loyalty to Allah not good acts or faith in general, but martyrdom that results from fighting unbelievers (47:4) — the only assurance of salvation in Islam (4:74; 9:111)?

Are the sins of any Muslim who becomes a martyr forgiven by the very act of being slain while slaying the unbelievers (4:96)?

And is it really true that martyrs are rewarded with virgins, among other carnal delights, in Paradise (38:51, 55:56; 55:76; 56:22)?

Are those unable to do jihad — such as women or the elderly — required to give "asylum and aid" to those who do fight unbelievers in the cause of Allah (8:74)?

Does Islam advocate expansion by force? And is the final command of jihad, as revealed to Muhammad in the Quran, to conquer the world in the name of Islam (9:29)?

Is Islam the only religion that does not teach the Golden Rule (48:29)? Does the Quran instead teach violence and hatred against non-Muslims, specifically Jews and Christians (5:50)?

This list of references is one of the most comprehensive lists I have ever seen, and the author's questions get right to the heart of the issue. Take a minute and read the whole article. If you are a Muslim, I hope you will seriously consider trying to answer these questions for us.

Labels: Islam, Israel

Here is an update on Abdul Rahman, the Christan in Afghanistan who is facing the death penalty for his beliefs (see my earlier post). According to a high government official, the president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, is intervening in the case, and supposedly a deal will be reached in the next few days.

That is nice to know, considering that the Afghanistan Constitution states that while "the religion of the state... is... Islam", "followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites" (Chapter 1, Article 2). In addition the Preamble to that constitution states that the people of Afghanistan respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That Declaration is even more clear on the fact that each person has a right to believe and follow their religion of choice:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. (Article 18)

The very least Karzai can do is ensure that his government follows its own laws. Rahman changed religions in another country, not in Afghanistan, and he was not engaged in evangelism. His basic human rights are being denied him, and it is the responsibility of the Afghan government to prevent him from being executed for his beliefs.

I hope Karzai does the right thing, but to be honest, I am skeptical. If Rahman does get released, it would behoove him to seek sanctuary in the U.S. or another more forward-thinking country. If not, I suspect that he will be killed in no time for his beliefs and that the murdurers will be let off the hook. I hope I'm wrong on that...

By the way, anyone who thinks that the new government in Iraq can't go the same way is fooling themselves. Look at the Middle East and tell me how many free countries are there, countries not run or primarily influenced by Sharia law. One. Only one. Israel.

In other news, the leading Muslim imams are denouncing Rahman as an apostate and calling for his murder:

Rahman had "committed the greatest sin" by converting to Christianity and deserved to be killed, cleric Abdul Raoulf said in a sermon Friday at Herati Mosque.

"God's way is the right way, and this man whose name is Abdul Rahman is an apostate," he told about 150 worshippers.

Another cleric, Ayatullah Asife Muhseni, told a gathering of preachers and intellectuals at a Kabul hotel that the Afghan president had no right to overturn the punishment of an apostate.

He also demanded that clerics be able to question Rahman in jail to discover why he had converted to Christianity. He suggested it could have been the result of a conspiracy by Western nations or Jews. (emphasis mine)

So, let me get this straight.... Islam is right, every other religion is wrong, and Muslims have the right to kill anyone who is not Muslim based on that fact.... Oh, and this whole Rahman thing is part of the worldwide Jewish conspiracy.... That sounds like something Mohammed would say. Oh, he did (9.29-33)...

UPDATE: Looks like the case against Rahman has been dismissed "because of lack of evidence". The prosecutor will have another chance, though, if he collects enough information. Get out of there, Rahman!

Labels: Islam

My last post about the Christian man who might soon be executed for his beliefs has reminded me of something else that I have been wanting to post here. Back in January, Anne Lieberman pointed out a letter to the editor in the Boulder, Colorado newspaper, the Daily Camera, that I think makes a great point about Islam:

Let's play jihad geography. Current [major world] conflicts include Mulims vs. Jews in "Palestine," Muslims vs. Hindus in Kashmir, Mulsims vs. Christians in Africa, Muslims vs. Buddhists in Thailand, Muslims vs. Russians in the Caucasus. Significant terrorism involving the religion of peace also includes Bali, Australia, Bangladesh, Holland, France, England, Iraq and the United States (remember 9/11?).

Perhaps the reason Muslims initiate violent, bloodletting among their infidel/kafir neighbors is because the Koran demands it. Go ahead, read it.

Diagree? Still convinced that Islam is, at its root, a religion of peace? I urge you to look at TheReligionOfPeace.com, JihadWatch.org, and DhimmiWatch and see for yourself what followers of the largest religion on the planet are doing to people every day. From what I can tell, these people make up the majority of the Muslim population worldwide. Why else would 40% of Muslims living in the UK want draconian Sharia law implemented in that democratic country? Why else would a Christian in Afghanistan, who is not evangelizing, just living his life, be tried and possibly be executed under sharia law for his beliefs?

I also encourage you to take the advice of the letter quoted above and read the Koran yourself (the link points to a widely respected translation of the Koran into English). I think you may be surprised with what you see about those of us who refuse to become Muslim ourselves.

Thankfully, there are a few dissenting voices within Islam these days (Wafa Sultan is one)—Muslims who are working to moderate their religion and show that being Muslim does not require killing the infidels. I support these people wholeheartedly in their quest to see their religion tamed. I have to say, though, that I am unconvinced that it can be.

Labels: Islam

LGF links to a story about a man in Afghanistan named Abdul Rahman who has been arrested and tried for being a Christian. The judge in the case is considering sentencing the man to death because, "We are not against any particular religion in the world. But in Afghanistan, this sort of thing is against the law. It is an attack on Islam."

The whole story here is that Abdul became a believer when he was working in Pakistan helping Afghan refugees 16 years ago. He then moved to Germany and recently moved back to Afghanistan. His family turned him in when the custody battle over his two girls became heated. The prosecutor has offered to drop the charges if Abdul would convert back to Islam, but Abdul has refused.

While we may all have differing opinions about the idea of someone converting to Christianity or changing religious beliefs in other ways, I think we all agree that killing this guy is no way to remedy the situation. Sending him back to Germany or even to the U.S. is a valid option.

Europe stopped the Inquisition hundreds of years ago, but it looks like Islam is still stuck in that rut.

Labels: Islam

This will be posted tomorrow on Geek.com. You get a preview...

..........

Interbrand, a brand-consulting firm based in the United Kingdom, has performed a survey for the last four years on the brands that consumers think are the best brands on the market. The survey for 2004, which was taken online and consisted of 1,984 entries from 75 countries, shows that consumers worldwide like Apple's brand more than any other. Interbrand attributes this to the success of the iPod and iTunes, as well as to other marketing techniques the computer and technology manufacturer developed in 2004.

Second to Apple on the list is Google, followed by Ikea and Starbucks. Surprisingly, Al Jazeera, the Arab television network, rounds out the top five global brands.

When the results are broken down by region, they show definite lines of interest based on geography. In the Asia-Pacific region, Sony, Samsung, and LG top the list, and in Central and Latin America Cemex, Corona, and Bacardi do.

See the full details on the survey from 2004, as well as past years, at BrandChannel.com.

Joshua’s Opinion

It is not very surprising that Apple tops any list from 2004. With a total of 10 million iPods sold and record profits set, the company is definitely making waves in the consumer gadget market. The question everyone is asking now is whether or not the computer company will be able to increase its computer market share with new ventures like the Mac Mini.

Google takes the prize in my mind. I just can't say enough how impressed I am with that company. I know that it has its own set of problems, but I am happy that it has the foresight to encourage its employees to think outside the box. That is important in the tech industry (in any industry, for that matter).

What I want to know is, "How in the heck did Al Jazeera get on the top five list?" It was number 5 in Europe, which makes lots of sense to me, but to say that the world likes it that much might be going a little bit too far. I smell an agenda somewhere between that key placement and Interbrand's statement that the results of the survey were not influenced by "a flawed electoral college."

As a matter of fact, I would say that the entire survey is suspect in my mind. While there is bound to be some truth hidden in the information given, I have trouble giving too much weight to an online survey with no more control on ballot stuffing than a cookie.

Labels: Islam, Politics