Der Spiegel reports on a recent report showing the impact of Islamic extremism on Christians around the world.
The rise of Islamic extremism is putting increasing pressure on Christians in Muslim countries, who are the victims of murder, violence and discrimination. Christians are now considered the most persecuted religious group around the world.
…
In many countries through the Muslim world, religion has gained influence over governmental policy in the last two decades. The militant Islamist group Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, while Islamist militias are fighting the governments of Nigeria and the Philippines. Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen have fallen to a large extent into the hands of Islamists. And where Islamists are not yet in power, secular governing parties are trying to outstrip the more religious groups in a rush to the right.
While there are both Muslim and non-Muslim countries on the list of offenders, a review of the report shows that a majority of the countries where Christians are persecuted are member states of the Organization of the Islamic conference (OIC).
According the OIC website, “The Organization is the collective voice of the Muslim world and ensuring [sic] to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony among various people of the world.” [italics added]The contradiction between this claim and the facts on the ground is straightforward.
Against this backdrop:In October, the Christian Science Monitor reported on the OIC’s push in the UN for a legally binding international treaty against blasphemy.This is in addition to the resolutions they regularly pass—successfully—on the issue.In 2006, the IHEU noted that another OIC anti-blasphemy proposal would have given justification for Muslim violence—as in the Mohammed cartoon riots several years back—without actually promoting human rights.
The recent study shows that there are a number of OIC states who support inter-religious reconciliation.However, against the backdrop of the anti-blasphemy measures in the UN—along with years of persecution of religious minorities—it’s apparent that the majority are less interested in “peace and harmony” than in promoting an Islamist agenda which could ultimately impact our free speech at home, while the plight of religious minorities worsens around the world.
From a humanitarian rights perspective, it’s not hard to be moved by the—at times brutal—suppression of the opposition movement building in Iran. For those of us who cherish freedoms like speech and self-determination, it’s not hard to be moved by the images of people killed in protests, and the reports of academic institutions being cleansed of suspected agitators.
At the same time, it may also be easy for some of us to say that these events, half a world away, don’t personally impact our lives.We may then excuse ourselves from any meaningful involvement in the cause.In a recent Op Ed, scholar Mehdi Khalaji shows that this thinking is mistaken.He points out that the regime’s current foreign policy is directly tied to the unrest in the country; this includes negotiations on their nuclear program.Khalaji writes:
[Supreme Leader] Khamenei’s foreign policy is now completely subject to how the domestic situation in Iran develops. As recent months have shown, he will consider a compromise with the West only when he loses his certainty that all is under control internally. It is like a seesaw: Khamenei’s domestic weakness changes the balance of Iran’s foreign policy…
Support of human rights and democracy in Iran is not only a matter of morality. It should be a strategic priority for the West. Empowering the Iranian people means weakening Khamenei and his military allies. And a weakened Khamenei is more likely to compromise on the nuclear front.
I saw this claim written in different places and I didn’t believe it, so I tried it out myself. Well, it turns out they are right. When you type “Christianity is”, or Judaism or Buddhism, “Google Suggest” guesses what you are trying to say and completes the sentence (most of the results are negative). However, when you type “Islam is” there are absolutely NO suggestions!
Google told a wired.com reporter that it was simply a software glitch that they were working on. However, that was already 5 days ago and the “glitch” still exists. Aren’t there millions of geniuses working at Google?
This idea of censoring anti-Islamic rhetoric seems to be a theme these past few days. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York pulled some Muhammad works for fear of igniting a controversy.
Even the director of the film 2012 admitted to being too afraid to depict any Muslim symbols being destroyed in his newest blockbuster film, for fear of attack.
What is going on? It seems that the protesters won in the Muhammad cartoon riots in Denmark a few years back when they sparked fear in everyone one of us. Now it seems that even companies like Google would rather go out of their way to censor themselves, as to avoid what the radical Muslims have in store for us.
You are invited to attend a Legal Conference On Freedom Of Speech & Religion
At the U.S. Congressional Auditorium in Washington, DC On October 27 & 28, 2009
Featuring Keynote Speaker Dr. Michael Savage of The Savage Nation
Members of Congress and Staff are invited to attend free of charge
Presented by International Free Press Society, Liberty Legal Project International & Center for Security Policy
Co-Sponsored by Horowitz Freedom Center, The O’Leary Report, Florida Security Council
This conference will survey the legal foundations of freedom of speech and religion around the world and address emerging threats to these rights around the globe.
