Saturday, January 07, 2006

Freedom of speech?

If anyone of you out there wonders about the title of my blog, please take time to read this letter published in yesterdays Telegraph.

Freedom of speech

Sir - On BBC Radio 4's PM programme, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, described homosexuality as "harmful" and "not acceptable" ( January 4).

I accept that Sir Iqbal has the right to express his personal opinions. However, when Christians have expressed negative views on homosexuality, the police have made a point of "investigating" these comments as potential "hate crimes" and contacting the people concerned to warn them about their behaviour.

See, for example, the cases of Joan and Helen Roberts, who complained about gay literature put out by their local council, author Lynette Burrows speaking on Radio 5 on gay adoption and the Bishop of Chester speaking in 2003.

I assume, therefore, that the Metropolitan Police will be investigating Sir Iqbal and will be contacting him regarding his BBC interview.

If, however, the police do nothing, then the Churches will be entitled to ask why the police are taking action against Christians expressing their views on homosexuality, while ignoring similar views being expressed by Muslims.

Neil Addison, Liverpool


Why oh why must this proud country we live in (England) have to pander to every minority who chooses to live here?

The old muslim v christianity chestnut rears up once more.

I am not a believer of any religion. Personally, I strongly believe that organised religion does more harm than good. Yes, there are lots of well meaning and deserving souls out there who spread goodwill in the name of some entity, but there is also so much hypocrisy involved.

This country is predominately christian and the moral (what's left of it) fabric of our society, yet every day we hear of another example of christians being banned discouraged from celebrating their holy days in the way they would prefer and have done for centuries.

Being a non-believer, I do not care whether anyone is christian/muslim/jewish or whatever. Why cannot you all get along together and respect one another's choice of worship?

6 comments:

©gloop said...

Fuck the lot of 'em - muslim, christian and all the rest.

Hypocrites the lot.

But, I agree, the pandering and kow-towing to Islam is becoming frightening.

It's about time we treated them the same as everyone else. No more wasting of taxpayers' money on Urdu translations of all council literature. No more celebrations of fuckin' "diversity" - at the taxpayers' expense and certainly no more pretend jobs with titles like "Assistant Diversity Officer" and the rest. As for offending the poor fuckers by referring to Christianity.....well what can I say.

I've had enough of having the piss ripped out of me.

User451 said...

On a recent trip to Egypt I was talking to a Coptic Christian about his beliefs (I'm an athiest but find faith fascinating) he told me that Egyptian Muslims and Christians get on very well, having cross denominational friends and celebrating each other's festivals. This was certainly born out by the amount of muslim santas we saw ho ho hoing around the town.

Pity we can't be the same.

©gloop said...

Simon,

We won't be able to be the same, because the "Diversity Officers" will nip any homogenisation in the bud.

Religion is a Medievil joke that is still being played on the intellectually bereft. Castigate it, spit on it and maybe even piss on it at every opportunity.

It's OK nobody will go to hell. Honest.

Anonymous said...

a fine example of pc madness that's what i'd say, that take on a religious hue. it is indeed a sad day that muslims - in this case someone representing them as i'm sure most ordinary types can't be arsed - are allowed to continue playing the victim in what is a christian country.

no thanks too to a certain C. Booth, QC whose landmark case allowed the muslims - or whomever representing them - to take advantage of the situation.

krip said...

The world would be a much better place if everybody worshipped the Premier League ( preferably, West Ham) :)

Anonymous said...

there was once i almost put my religion down as "football" on some useless piece of job application form. but knowing that wee islanders don't have any sense of humour, i decided against it. i should have done so to see their reaction regardless.