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| Egypt. Free Speech. Source |
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| Afghanistan. Free Speech. Source |
Pakistan. Free Speech. Source
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| Turkey. Free Speech. Source |
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| Iran. Free Speech. Source |
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| England. No Free Speech. Neville Chamberlain lives! |
I'm a
Christian. I find many of atheist Richard Dawkins critiques of Christianity to
be profoundly offensive, even evil. Dawkins is a British superstar biologist.
I wake up to a radio alarm blasting the morning's news headlines. If, tomorrow morning, my radio alarm announced that President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry had barred Richard Dawkins from entry into the US because his critiques of Christianity had offended many, I would recoil. I would realize I had woken up in 1984. I would realize that the rest of my life wouldn't be worth dirt under such an oppressive regime. I would immediately devote everything I had to overturning such a regime. Free speech is the sine qua non of Western Civilization. No free speech means no Western Civilization, no science, no scholarship, no comedy, no progress.
The English now live under such a regime.
On June 26, 2013, England announced that it would deny entry to authors and bloggers Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller. The English government denied Spencer and Geller entry because Spencer and Geller report on acts of jihad. You can read the full story here.
Neither Spencer nor Geller is accused of any crime. They are not accused of wanting to commit a crime. The only reason the English gave for denying Spencer and Geller entry: They criticize acts of jihad.
If this bugs you as much as it bugs me, please sign the petition here.
I wake up to a radio alarm blasting the morning's news headlines. If, tomorrow morning, my radio alarm announced that President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry had barred Richard Dawkins from entry into the US because his critiques of Christianity had offended many, I would recoil. I would realize I had woken up in 1984. I would realize that the rest of my life wouldn't be worth dirt under such an oppressive regime. I would immediately devote everything I had to overturning such a regime. Free speech is the sine qua non of Western Civilization. No free speech means no Western Civilization, no science, no scholarship, no comedy, no progress.
The English now live under such a regime.
On June 26, 2013, England announced that it would deny entry to authors and bloggers Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller. The English government denied Spencer and Geller entry because Spencer and Geller report on acts of jihad. You can read the full story here.
Neither Spencer nor Geller is accused of any crime. They are not accused of wanting to commit a crime. The only reason the English gave for denying Spencer and Geller entry: They criticize acts of jihad.
If this bugs you as much as it bugs me, please sign the petition here.
I am glad you posted this as I had heard of it but didn't know the particulars. I have read one of his books and even gave it to someone.
ReplyDeleteThe Left does this because "the enemy of my enemy (Christianity) is my friend". I have read numerous biographies of Churchill and he, too, would be banned from the UK (and his reputation and meaning are being revised like our Founding Father's here which bans them by proxy). We are in the midst of a revolt - it is not a revolution. A respected presidential candidate in the last election let the cat out of the bag when he urged his followers to vote if for no other reason than for "revenge".
Revenge, hatred and delusion are poisons and we see the effects of it all around us. They cannot build but only destroy. Their goal is not to achieve happiness in a constructive way but to prevent others from achieving it and they delight in that.
It is very sad but I think all we can really do is go deeper into our spiritual practice.
Gordon I agree with everything you said. Thank you.
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