Censorship and Bullying are Bad, Unless We’re Doing It.
So sayeth the RRRW anyway. They’re up in arms over the recent threats by “Islamic Activists” to sue a Dutch newspaper over Muhammad cartoons.
Robert Spencer, a leading critic of Islam, believes a group of Islamic activists may successfully shut down freespeech in Denmark if they follow through on their threat to sue nearly 20 Danish newspapers and magazines for republishing pictures of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
In February Denmark’s leading newspapers reprinted one of the 12 original cartoons of Muhammad that were printed in 2005. The papers said the reprint, which occurred after Danish police uncovered a plot to kill the cartoonist, was meant to promote free speech. Now Islamic activists plan to file lawsuits in Jordanian courts because the country’s penal code says publicly slandering religious figures is an offense that carries up to three years in prison.
Robert Spencer is director of Jihad Watch, a project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He does not believe the Jordanian courts can enforce the lawsuits’ penalties, but he thinks they could serve to intimidate some in the West who do not understand what is at stake.
“[T]he effect they want is to chill free speech in the West,” Spencer notes. He believes it could happen because “Western officials in general don’t understand what is at stake here.”…
That’s a mighty interesting perspective Spencer has. The lawsuit against the papers is an assault on free speech? I wonder what Mr. Spencer would think of the following, then.
Man sued library for $20K after sons found book on lesbian sex. Claimed, “God was speaking to my heart that day and helped me find the words that proved successful in removing this book from the shelf.”…
“Any effort to reinstate the book will be met with legal action and protests from the Christian community,” Adams wrote in the e-mail.
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The book, by Felice Newman, is a sex guide deemed suitable for all public libraries, according to the Library Journal, which the Bentonville library uses to decide what to place on its shelves.
Christian parent groups in eight states have lobbied to remove “Harry Potter” from classroom readings and warned other parents about the books’ occult themes and fantastic, often gruesome imagery.
In a form dated May 28, 2007, Sherrie Sawyer, who is a teaching assistant at Sugarland Elementary, wrote in a complaint to her principal: “I object to the homosexual theme of this book (”And Tango Makes Three”). The two male penguins are described as acting like a male and female penguin. The zookeeper says, ‘They must be in love.’” It isn’t clear whether Sawyer’s children attend Sugarland, and a call to Sawyer, of Leesburg, seeking comment about the case Monday afternoon hasn’t been returned.
A few weeks later on June 6, the initial review committee consisting of a school parent, a Horizon Elementary librarian, and a Sugarland Elementary teacher unanimously decided that “And Tango Makes Three” should remain in general circulation at the school.
On June 12, Angela Robinson, principal of Sugarland Elementary, wrote a letter to Sawyer stating her agreement with the committee’s recommendation.
Sawyer –- who signed her letter “concerned parent and assistant teacher” — appealed the committee’s decision in a letter to Superintendent Hatrick on Sept. 18, 2007. She wrote: “I believe the intent of the book is to implant the homosexual idea into the minds of children as an acceptable lifestyle to all.”
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, which most recently protested a picture of Britney Spears sitting provocatively in a priest’s lap — the image appears in her new album, Blackout — takes this issue a little more seriously. The anti-defamation group accuses the film of “selling atheism to kids” and has produced its own booklet in response, “The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked,” which it’s been distributing to churches and other Christian groups.
The evangelical-activist group Focus on the Family, which plans to release a statement about the film early next week, says it’s in agreement with Christian leaders and organizations on the issue. Adam Holz, associate editor of Focus on the Family’s Plugged In magazine, told MTV News he fears the movie would “plant seeds” to “ultimately encourage some fans to reject God.”
American Family Association (AFA) has launched a boycott of Ford Motor Company because of Ford’s support for the homosexual marriage movement. Donald E. Wildmon, chairman of AFA, said that the organization has emailed an announcement of the boycott to their more than 2.2 million online supporters.
“From redefining family to include homosexual marriage, to giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to support homosexual groups and their agenda, to forcing managers to attend diversity training on how to promote the acceptance of homosexuality, to sponsoring a ‘commitment (marriage) ceremony,’ to sponsoring Gay Pride Parades, Ford leads the way,” Wildmon said.
AFA asks for boycott because of Target’s anti-Christmas stance
In an effort to get Target to include “Christmas” in their in-store promotions and retail advertising for next year’s (2006) season, we wrote Chairman Robert Ulrich. We told Chairman Ulrich that we knew it was too late to change his in-store promotions and retail advertising for this year. We asked him if Target would assure us that the company would make Christmas an integral part of their promotions and advertising next year.
We told Chairman Ulrich that if Target would honor our request, we would encourage our supporters and others to shop at Target. But we also said that if he refused, or did not respond, we would ask our supporters to boycott Target.
How did Chairman Ulrich respond to our request? He did not respond at all! Chairman Ulrich sent a clear message—Target will continue to ban “Christmas.”
Would you join us in a boycott of Target, and forward this to friends and family asking them to do the same? Yes, there are other companies which refuse to use Christmas. But if Target gets the message and their sales go down—every other national retailer will also get the message! Then we can expect some big changes in their promotion and advertising next year.
Funny how it’s all so different when it’s Christians engaging in the bullying and censorship. Then it’s not a tragedy. Then it’s not an assault on free speech. They’re protecting their delicate children from knowing that gay people exist. They’re preventing the possibility that even one Christian mind might be lost to the horrors of atheism. They’re ensuring that their deeply held religious beliefs will be respected by others.
RRRW Christians, Hypocrisy is thy name.
