What is it with religions and freedom of speech? Surely such an amazing deity would grant his followers the discernment to tell what what truth and what was falsehood – and would not have to rely on the UN?
btw, there have been christian bus ads for, like, ever (you are going to hell!) and then all the flap over the atheist ads (Bad news: no god. Good news: You don’t need him.) but I’ve heard nothing about the Islamic ads that have shown up in San Francisco: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=6668524
Not that I care, but I chuckle every time I see the “Submission to God” tagline — I’m sorry, but I’m more likely to kick his heavenly ass than submit without a fight. I don’t submit willingly to anyone. (Except maybe Lucy Liu in Payback. Please.)
Damn right. Gotta make the whole world like Afghanistan, where Pervez Embaksh just got sentenced to 20 years in the slammer for the crime of dowloading material on women’s rights. And this is an improvement – his previous sentence was the death penalty. Gotta shut everybody up. Shut up shut up shut up.
Hitch is interviewed about it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n53-3QnhxZk. As the presenter points out at 3m25s, an extra layer of irony is that most of the nations that comprise the OIC are theological dictatorships. The block vote of religious dictators is being used – within a democratic system – to kill the freedom of the citizens of civilised democracies.
I think it takes more than a ‘SPROING!’ to sum this up.
In the modern world most religions are forced to pay lip service to the principle of free speech, not doing so makes them look bad. But really they are never very happy about it due to the fact that their beliefs lack any evidence and are often demonstrably untrue. This makes people pointing this out to them a bit annoying.
Thanks Toast in the Machine. If anyone’s missed Pat Condell on the subject: http://patcondell.net/index.html is only two minutes long and well worth it!
We pay two very high prices for freedom of speech: we have to tolerate idiot TV preachers and put up with pornography. It’s worth it, of course, because without the First Amendment, all our freedoms are doomed. Morevoer, as Poor Richard says, “You never know from whence cometh your next revelation”
Dan, it was Mark Twain who wrote: “It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them”
Unnecessary Evil – that’s very pithy, and probably quite wise in many ways a lot of the time, but it’s meaningless to say you have freedom of speech if you also expect people not to practice it.
If, as soon as someone says something which someone else finds offensive, you say, ‘the practical limit to free speech is just before that’, then you’re saying freedom of speech is wrong. You can’t have it both ways.
Nobody seems to have any problems with regulations criminalizing any nazi symbols or other stuff which may dare to downplay the holocaust?
Odd really how many seem to have a double standard…
Kalam – what do you mean ‘nobody’? I can’t see anyone above who’s given an opinion on that, and wtf has it got to do with taking the piss out of islam?
You’re obviously not aware that there are no laws against holocaust denial in the UK – but why would you see it as a good thing that you could ‘downplay the holocaust’ anyway?
Double standard my arse – you’re just a retarded anti-semite.
Overheard at the Human Rights Council, Geneva on 24 March 2009 during a discussionof the resolution “Combating Defamation of Religions”
NGO representative: “You can’t defame an object or an idea. You can’t defame a dead person, you can’t defame the Prophet Mohammed.”
Pakistani delegate: “That’s precisely why we need this resolution. He’s not around to defend himself!”
‘Roy Brown (of IHEU)… said: “The resolution is part of a wider campaign by the Islamic States to impose values on the rest of the international community which are largely unacceptable in liberal democracies. Freedom of Expression is protected in international law in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Article 19 states that everyone has the right “to hold opinions without interference. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression.‒
Nothing warms my atheist heart more than to see the endless clues in stories about the religious how fragile their faith is.
Education can challenge it. Independent thought can weaken it. Exchange of ideas can dilute it. Superior humanistic values can replace it. Critical thinking shows one the way out of it. Science deletes its miracles. Visible atheists unravel the strawman. Equal rights undermine its hierarchy.
I hope I can be around to see the many-mansion’d-house-of-cards tumble down when the steadfast process of seeking truth and embracing reality deals its final blow against the superstitious and unquestioning.
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If the UN resolution passes then this strip will have to be renamed. To Jesus and Bill or something.
What is it with religions and freedom of speech? Surely such an amazing deity would grant his followers the discernment to tell what what truth and what was falsehood – and would not have to rely on the UN?
I recently discovered this strip and love it. Hilarious.
Perfect, as usual.
btw, there have been christian bus ads for, like, ever (you are going to hell!) and then all the flap over the atheist ads (Bad news: no god. Good news: You don’t need him.) but I’ve heard nothing about the Islamic ads that have shown up in San Francisco: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=6668524
Not that I care, but I chuckle every time I see the “Submission to God” tagline — I’m sorry, but I’m more likely to kick his heavenly ass than submit without a fight. I don’t submit willingly to anyone. (Except maybe Lucy Liu in Payback. Please.)
So the destruction of the Afghan Buddhas was because they were blasphemy in the eyes of the Taliban’s supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar.
Their destruction was not an attack on the symbols of Buddhism and as such wouldn’t have been condemned by this resolution. Have I got this right?
Jim you asked “What is it with religions and freedom of speech?”
Essentially as far as I can tell, most religions believe God gave us free-will and the best way we should express our thanks is to suppress it.
Damn right. Gotta make the whole world like Afghanistan, where Pervez Embaksh just got sentenced to 20 years in the slammer for the crime of dowloading material on women’s rights. And this is an improvement – his previous sentence was the death penalty. Gotta shut everybody up. Shut up shut up shut up.
Hitch is interviewed about it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n53-3QnhxZk. As the presenter points out at 3m25s, an extra layer of irony is that most of the nations that comprise the OIC are theological dictatorships. The block vote of religious dictators is being used – within a democratic system – to kill the freedom of the citizens of civilised democracies.
I think it takes more than a ‘SPROING!’ to sum this up.
In the modern world most religions are forced to pay lip service to the principle of free speech, not doing so makes them look bad. But really they are never very happy about it due to the fact that their beliefs lack any evidence and are often demonstrably untrue. This makes people pointing this out to them a bit annoying.
Thanks Toast in the Machine. If anyone’s missed Pat Condell on the subject: http://patcondell.net/index.html is only two minutes long and well worth it!
Submoron; many thanks for the link to Pat Condell’s site. How did I miss someone as sensible as he is?
We pay two very high prices for freedom of speech: we have to tolerate idiot TV preachers and put up with pornography. It’s worth it, of course, because without the First Amendment, all our freedoms are doomed. Morevoer, as Poor Richard says, “You never know from whence cometh your next revelation”
Is it islam’s fault that it couldn’t get its global conquest and violent atrocities done with before the development of a mass media system?
grouchy-one’s comment is apt.
TRiG.
Freedom of religion?
Freedom from religion?
At least I get to choose, so I’m going to ….. SPROING!
Dan, it was Mark Twain who wrote: “It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them”
Unnecessary Evil – that’s very pithy, and probably quite wise in many ways a lot of the time, but it’s meaningless to say you have freedom of speech if you also expect people not to practice it.
If, as soon as someone says something which someone else finds offensive, you say, ‘the practical limit to free speech is just before that’, then you’re saying freedom of speech is wrong. You can’t have it both ways.
Nobody seems to have any problems with regulations criminalizing any nazi symbols or other stuff which may dare to downplay the holocaust?
Odd really how many seem to have a double standard…
Kalam – what do you mean ‘nobody’? I can’t see anyone above who’s given an opinion on that, and wtf has it got to do with taking the piss out of islam?
You’re obviously not aware that there are no laws against holocaust denial in the UK – but why would you see it as a good thing that you could ‘downplay the holocaust’ anyway?
Double standard my arse – you’re just a retarded anti-semite.
Overheard at the Human Rights Council, Geneva on 24 March 2009 during a discussionof the resolution “Combating Defamation of Religions”
NGO representative: “You can’t defame an object or an idea. You can’t defame a dead person, you can’t defame the Prophet Mohammed.”
Pakistani delegate: “That’s precisely why we need this resolution. He’s not around to defend himself!”
Depressing update…
‘Roy Brown (of IHEU)… said: “The resolution is part of a wider campaign by the Islamic States to impose values on the rest of the international community which are largely unacceptable in liberal democracies. Freedom of Expression is protected in international law in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Article 19 states that everyone has the right “to hold opinions without interference. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression.‒
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Howcome Jesus never drives? XD
His stigmata would get blood all over the wheel.
Nothing warms my atheist heart more than to see the endless clues in stories about the religious how fragile their faith is.
Education can challenge it. Independent thought can weaken it. Exchange of ideas can dilute it. Superior humanistic values can replace it. Critical thinking shows one the way out of it. Science deletes its miracles. Visible atheists unravel the strawman. Equal rights undermine its hierarchy.
I hope I can be around to see the many-mansion’d-house-of-cards tumble down when the steadfast process of seeking truth and embracing reality deals its final blow against the superstitious and unquestioning.
Won’t even need an iron chariot!
poor richard
what is wrong with porn, poor dick?