Islam isn't the youngest religion. For one, there's the Ba'hai faith, which is persecuted in some majority Muslim countries.
Christians were the majority in Egypt when it was invaded, yes - invaded - by Arab Muslims, who now refer to it as an Arab country and keep the Coptic Christians in a lower position, as well as other native people there.
Insulting a religion is not "fighting words" unless someone is inclined to fight over such things. In the situation you describe? I wouldn't kill the attackers, but I would do all I could to see them prosecuted and jailed. I would tell my friends what they said wasn't cool and if they cared to insult people that way, I'd rather not hang out with them, but I wouldn't consider their insults to be an incitement to violence. If someone is insulted strongly enough on a personal level and it's a repeated sort of thing, not a one-off, at some point you have to make a stand, but an insult to a religion or any person considered to have been a prophet doesn't cut it for me.
When the right to ugly speech is curtailed, the right to any free speech is open to question. There's a reason it was such an important part of the beginnings of this country.
There's been talk about how Jesus is considered a prophet and Muslims aren't allowed to insult him, but the manner in which they speak of him is to a level a blasphemy to many, if not most, Christians.
And if we take this particular instance, a small group of men made a movie that stated their opinion, these men hold no power to discriminate against or in any way harm people thousands of miles away, yet violence has occurred as a result, directed not at those men, but at others. That's a big reason why Libyans rose up against those who committed the violence and denounced the idea of reacting with violence towards something they mostly found insulting, cause the insult didn't matter. The violence against innocents did matter.
I don't think this is an instance where we can give an inch. It's one thing to say I don't agree with insulting someone's religion, though I will, and I think should, say where I disagree with it, it's quite another to agree to curtail freedom of speech and belief because of fear of a violent reaction. That's giving into bullies. The film makers weren't bullies, they have no power. The rioters and murderers were bullies in their attempt to keep others from speaking their minds for fear of death. |
