Codifying Blasphemy?

(A follow-on to this post by Pastorius)

The UK appears to be considering jumping onto the slippery slope. Is the United States, despite our history of separation of church and state, far behind? Codifying religious blasphemy as part of the civil code is dangerous in the extreme!

And just what is the Islamic definition of blasphemy?  According to this source, the definition is nebulous and open to exploitation:

The...Quran, the primary authority in Islamic jurisprudence, offers no explicit definition of blasphemy. The hadiths, a collection of sayings attributed to Mohammed, mention briefly the “abuse of the Prophet” as a capital punishment offence...

Proponents of strict implementation of Sharia religious law usually argue that blasphemy should be punishable by death. Muslim clerics that condemn cases of blasphemy sometimes exhort on fellow Muslims to punish the perpetrators, while in some countries, conservative clerics with influence over the state judiciary pursue suspected blasphemers in state courts.

Yet in the Muslim world only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates currently permit blasphemy to be punishable by death. Muslim clerics that condemn cases of blasphemy sometimes exhort on fellow Muslims to punish the perpetrators, while in some countries, conservative clerics with influence over the state judiciary pursue suspected blasphemers in state courts.

[...]

[I]t will be up to individual Muslim clerics – with varying degrees of juridical knowledge and reputation – to declare an individual a blasphemer. A wide variety of alleged offences have been branded as blasphemous in different environments, ranging from cultural production deemed offensive to Islam to bizarre allegations of blasphemy such as the Sudanese case of a teddy bear named Mohammed.

As I read the above citation, I think of Mona Eltahawy and her zeal as she defaced private property in the NYC subway this week  Did she not appear absolutely convinced that she had the right to do what she did?

I think of Salman Rushdie.

I think of the recent filmifada, too, of course.

And the Danish Cartoons and the ensuing outrage.

I also think of these signs that Muslims carried in the streets of London:

Offense is in the eye of the beholder. 

The slippery slope.

Egyptian PM Hints At Violence If America Doesn’t Enforce Blasphemy Laws

From the Daily Caller:

Arab governments are stepping up their demands for regulation of American media to ensure Islam gets more favorable coverage in the United States, while President Barack Obama used his weekend message to again condemn criticism of Islam and to reassure Americans worried war in the Arab region. 

Egypt’s Prime Minister Hisham Qandil said Sept. 15 that he expected changes in U.S. law and media practice following the release of a 14-minute anti-Islam YouTube video and a week of ongoing unrest in the Middle East. 

The violence has included numerous protests, riots and deadly attacks on U.S. and European facilities since Sept. 11, all of which have damaged Obama’s election-trail claims to foreign policy success. 

The United States should “take the necessary measures to ensure insulting billions of people – one and a half billion people – and their beliefs does not happen, and people pay for what they do, and at the same time make sure that the reflections of the true Egyptian and Muslims is well [represented] in Western media,” Qandil added, according to the the English-language site of Egypt’s main newspaper, Al Ahram. 

But Qandil’s statement also hinted at more violence if the Islamists’ demands were not met.“I think we need to work out something around this because we cannot wait and see this happen again,” Qandil said. 

Dearborn Imam Calls On American Government To Enforce Sharia Blasphemy Laws…

As anger flared across the Muslim world Friday over an anti-Islam video from the U.S., the religious leader of Michigan’s largest mosque slammed Islamic extremists for attacking U.S. embassies and urged Muslims not to react violently to attacks on their prophet.

And he urged the U.S. to do more to stop the people behind the video and those who are promoting it.

“Somehow, they should be stopped,” said Imam Hassan Al-Qazwini of the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. “The U.S. response should be much more stronger than verbal condemnation.”

Al-Qazwini attended the annual Eid dinner Thursday night at the State Department in Washington with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who spoke about the attacks on U.S. facilities that resulted in four deaths in Libya.

Clinton said the violence was not justified, a view that was echoed by Al-Qazwini. He said Islam teaches that ambassadors and other guests should always be welcomed.

“This is not what Islam preaches,” Al-Qazwini said of the fatal attacks. “There is no way we can tolerate killing.”

At the same time, he said we can’t “sit and watch” as the anti-Islam video is promoted.

“We can do more to stop inciting violence,” he said. Allowing the movie has “broader ramifications for our troops, diplomats and Americans abroad.”

The filmmaker and those who support the movie, such as Quran-burning Pastor Terry Jones of Florida, “have blood on their hands,” he said.

RUSSELL SIMMONS SAYS, IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL TO MAKE MOVIES THAT INSULT MUSLIMS

Russell Simmons

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@UncleRUSH

It would be illegal to yell fire in movie theater and it could be illegal to make hate film which was obviously designed to cause alarm?

AS IF THE RAP MUSIC RUSSELL SIMMONS HAS PRODUCED NEVER OFFENDED ANYONE.