[kitchencabinetforum] BLASPHEMY VIOLATES NO ONE'S RIGHTS

Mikael Davud, a Norwegian of Uighur origin, Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak, an Iraqi Kurd residing in Norway, and David Jakobsen, an ethnic Uzbek also living in Norwayaccused, are accused of plotting to bomb the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten for printing cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, which is considered blasphemous in Islam.

Because religions claim divine favor for themselves, over and against other groups, this sense of righteousness leads to violence because conflicting claims to superiority, based on unverifiable appeals to God, cannot be adjudicated objectively. Religions do tremendous harm to society by using violence to promote their goals, in ways that are endorsed and exploited by their leaders. Abrahamic Religions are inherently violent because of an exclusivism that inevitably fosters violence against those that are considered outsiders. Abrahamic legacy is actually genocidal in nature.

These al-Qaeda men, who were arrested in July 2010, had bought bomb-making materials, including hydrogen peroxide and acetone, which police discovered in a cellar belonging to one of them. Police found weapons manuals, bomb-making instructions and pro al-Qaeda propaganda on Davud's computer in Norway. During earlier interviews, Davud and Bujak had both admitted that they were planning an attack.

Blasphemy is publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion. It's scary to think that a progressive state would drag out antiquated laws to suppress freedom of speech. Sometimes you have to shake your head and wonder how in this day and age a law that supports prosecuting detractors of a two millennia old fairy tale is allowed to be on the books.

The trial in Oslo comes less than two weeks after the offices of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo were firebombed in Paris as it published an edition featuring Mohammed as "guest editor" on the cover.

Blasphemy violates no one's rights. To cave in to intimidation and not publish anything religuous freaks feel is offensive is to surrender the crucial principle of free speech. This clash is about respecting man's right to express his views, however unpopular, in the face of religious attempts to subordinate that right to mystical dogmas. Instead of appeasing the mobs who call for executing anyone offending their faith, the West must support those who share its political ideal of free speech.

The most controversial cartoons were illustrated by Kurt Westergaard, which featured Mohammed with a bomb under his turban. Since the cartoons were published, Westergaard and the Danish newspaper have been the targets of numerous threats from Islamist circles. Westergaard was the victim of a murder attempt in January 2010, when an ax-wielding man burst into his home. He now lives under round-the-clock protection.

Blasphemy laws are silly and dangerous. It is silly because medieval religious laws have no place in a modern secular republic, where the criminal law should protect people and not ideas. And it is dangerous because it incentivises religious outrage, and because Islamic States are already using the wording of blasphemy laws to promote new blasphemy laws at UN level. Blasphemy laws are unjust, because they silence people in order to protect ideas. In a civilised society, people have a right to express and to hear ideas about religion even if other people find those ideas to be outrageous. http://venitism.blogspot.com

Secular society is rejected by religulous freaks. They demand a special position, insisting on special consideration of their religulous feelings. But this is incompatible with freedom of speech, where one must be ready to put up with insults, mockery, and ridicule. Journalists should treat religulous freaks the same way they treat atheists, cultists, spiritualists, spirituals, politicians, philosophers, scientists, artists, and businessmen, integrating them into the Graecoroman tradition of criticism and satire, because they are part of society, not strangers. Blasphemy is including, rather than excluding, religulous freaks.