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Free Speech

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Geert Wilders, the radical anti-Muslim Dutch politician, will seek to test free speech in Britain next month when he makes a second attempt to visit the House of Lords to screen a controversial film equating Islam to Nazism.

Lord Ahmed, a Muslim peer, has promised to mobilise 10,000 Muslims to block Mr Wilders from entering the House of Lords.
» Full Story

Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders is due to appear in an Amsterdam court on Wednesday on charges of religious insult and anti-Islam incitement.

The prosecution claims his 2008 short film “Fitna“, as well as statements made in interviews and speeches, incite hatred against Muslims. Wilders has called Islam a “backward” culture and the Koran a “fascist book that incites people to violence.”
» Full Story

A fundraising auction in Denmark on Tuesday generated debate about free speech after the auction house declined to include a water colour by the newspaper cartoonist who caused outrage among Muslims worldwide in 2006, DPA reports.

A Muslim hate criminal recently attempted to kill the cartoonist
» Full Story

Lawyers for the Roman Catholic Church urged a court Monday to let Christians use “Allah” as a translation for God and overturn a government ban that has become a symbol of religious grievances in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

In 2008 The Herald, a weekly magazine circulated among the country’s 850,000 Catholics, nearly lost its publishing licence for using the disputed word.
» Full Story

A district judge questioned the character of a Muslim convert as he dismissed the case against husband and wife Christian hoteliers who she claimed had deeply offended her new-found religion.

He suggested that Mrs Ericka Tazi’s account of the events could not be relied upon and that she was not quite the religious person she presented herself as the witness box.
» Full Story

In the UK(!) the criminal trial of a Christian couple charged with a public order offence for criticising Islam begins today.

Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang of Aintree in Liverpool are being prosecuted for a “religiously aggravated” public order offence. [video]
» Full Story

The arrest of a member of an anti-Scientology group on terrorism-related charges last month thrust Las Vegas into the forefront of a worldwide dispute between the group and the celebrity-laden church.

Authorities say they believed acts of violence were about to be committed against the Las Vegas Scientology church, which is creating a new 36,845-square-foot center on Eastern Avenue to cater to celebrities.
» Full Story

A former military lawyer who served in the Reagan White House and worked for Ross Perot is suing a Dallas-based religious organization in a case that could test the limits of free speech and prayer.

Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said he wants Gordon Klingenschmitt, a former U.S. Navy chaplain, to “stop asking Jesus to plunder my fields … seize my assets, kill me and my family then wipe away our descendants for 10 generations.”
» Full Story

Outraged by nations that want to execute blasphemers and propelled by a deep belief in the freedom of expression, Lindsay is forging ahead with his “nothing is sacred” movement.

Wednesday marks the first organized observance of Blasphemy Day, a series of events, exhibits and lectures unfolding in a host of mostly North American cities that are part of a larger Campaign for Free Expression.
» Full Story

A Danish caricaturist is making his first tour of the United States since the 2005 publication of his cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad that provoked fury across the Muslim world, according to a Danish press freedom group that is promoting the trip.

Muslims throughout the world rioted in anger at the cartoon — and 11 eleven others — and the artist became the target of a terrorist plot.
» Full Story

Scientology has a lot to hide — and a lot of it has been exposed to daylight by the cult’s many critics.

That must hurt in the pocketbook, and thus the ‘church’ — which among other things is behind an anti-psychiatry hate group — has launched yet another on free speech.
» Full Story

Yale University is publishing “The Cartoons That Shook the World” about how cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad caused outrage, violence and other bad behavior across the Muslim world.

But it won’t include the cartoons themselves — for fear of further violence on the part of Muslim extremists.
» Full Story

The BBC has been accused of appeasement of radical Islam by the artist behind one of the infamous cartoons of Mohammed.

Kurt Westergaard claims the corporation’s decision not to air a recent interview with him came because they are petrified of upsetting Muslims extremists.
» Full Story

The U.N.’s top human-rights body approved a proposal by Muslims nations Thursday urging passage of laws around the world to protect religion from criticism.

This ludicrous notion is an assault on free speech and an insult to civilized people everywhere. Islam is a deeply trouble religion whose beliefs and practices must be scrutinized and be subject to criticism.
» Full Story

Protesters targeting a Church of Scientology compound in one California county now face stricter limits on how they can conduct demonstrations, according to a new ordinance adopted Tuesday by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

Critics of the measure say it needlessly constrains free speech.
» Full Story

Glosslip.com reports that well-known anti-Scientology critic Mark Bunker was arrested along with another critic, Mark Lowell at the Scientology’s Hemet, California compound known as Gold Base.

The cult, which has a long history of hate- and harassment activities, has pressured the Riverside County Board of Supervisors into imposing picketing limits.
» Full Story

Opponents of the Church of Scientology say their 1st Amendment rights are being quashed by Riverside County after the Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance requiring protesters to stay 50 feet from the property line of a massive Scientology campus near Hemet, California.

Catherine Fraser, Golden Era’s director of public affairs, contends that the protesters are dangerous. We think such paranoia is largely inspired by the cult’s own record of hate- and harassment activities against its critics — unethical behavior promoted and condoned by the founder of Scientology.
» Full Story

Islam is incompatible with free speech (and a host of other values observed by civilized nations).

In an unprecedented case, a Jordanian court is prosecuting 12 Europeans in an extraterritorial attempt to silence the debate on radical Islam.

The prosecutor general in Amman charged the 12 with blasphemy, demeaning Islam and Muslim feelings, and slandering and insulting the prophet Muhammad in violation of the Jordanian Penal Code. The charges are especially unusual because the alleged violations were not committed on Jordanian soil.
» Full Story

The boy, 16, was stopped by police in Biggera Waters after he was spotted wearing a t-shirt which claims “Jesus is a (expletive deleted)” and depicts a nun masturbating.

It is a t-shirt for English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth.
» Full Story

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Most Read about Free Speech

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1. Free Speech and Radical Islam
2. Bong Hits 4 Jesus case tests the limits of Free speech
3. Supreme Court Rules Against Bong Hits 4 Jesus Student
4. Fitna: Freedom of expression or freedom to insult?
5. Australia: boy charged for wearing t-shirt degrading Jesus
6. UK: Priest gets a visit from 'hate crime' police for expressing his views on Muslim veil affair
7. Debate on the merits of hate-speech laws
8. Alberta pastor to face human rights panel
9. Criminalizing Criticism of Islam
10. Deal offer on religious hate law

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