More arrests for ‘hate crimes’ in the UK

Things are clearly heating up. Authorities are so afraid of the inevitable backlash that Orwellian policies of thought control are creating, they are arresting people for burning certain books, even if those books are the legal property of the person burning them. The point is made in this article that no one is being arrested for burning the sacred texts of other religions but only burning Islamic texts. For me that isnt the point. If people were being arrested for burning Darwin’s Origin of Species, I would be out burning copies of it in the street even though I agree with every word of it and think it is one of the most important books ever written.

The point is, we must never, in a free society, allow any group amongst us or elsewhere, determine what we must respect or hold sacred. We give the right to all people to choose for themselves what they may hold sacred and that itself is a rare and truly precious right. But it must not be confused with allowing people to force others to hold those same things sacred through thuggery or law or any other means.

This must be understood and now or we are lost.

Eeyore for Vlad.

We Are Offended! From the EDL web site

Saturday, 18 September 2010 08:27

Today we have learned that police have arrested two men under the Racial and Religious Hatred Act. Their crime? To burn a copy of the Quran.

The Quran is the ‘Bible’ of the Islamic faith. It contains the Muslims’ holy scriptures and is regarded as the literal word of God. Muslims treat the Quran with respect that borders on reverence. They are taught only to hold the Quran with a certain hand, and will often use a book-stand to read it from so as not to touch it. Although Christians will happily write in their Bibles, make notes and underline important teachings, Muslims would be horrified if anyone was to do that to a Quran.

On the surface it is easy to regard the burning of a Quran as a religious, or even, racial hate crime. But is it? Does burning a Quran demonstrate a true hatred of the whole Muslim population?

Some would suggest it does. But would the same be true if we were speaking of the holy scriptures of a different religion? Other religious books are burned around the world on a regular basis. Bibles, for instance, are burned or at least confiscated every day in the Islamic world. What’s more, their owners are routinely discriminated against, arrested, and even tortured and imprisoned.

It is not difficult to see how the burining of a Quran could cause offence. But surely that could be true of any book, to a greater or lesser extent? Why is it so important that we acknowledge the status of Muslims as victims? Why are we so happy to condemn those who would burn a copy of the Quran, but appear less interested when a Bible or a Torah is burnt to ashes?

These questions are all the more difficult to answer when you consider that the Islamic world is probably the worst offender when it comes to religious intolerance.

I don’t suppose it made much of a splash in the headlines when in 2002 it was finally brought to the attention of the world that the Saudi government desecrates and burns thousands of Bibles annually, many of them confiscated from Christians worshipping privately in their own homes. The Saudi government continue this practice to this day. If you enter Saudi Arabia with more than one Bible, expect them all to be confiscated and destroyed.

Then again, I don’t suppose that back in 2006 when Muslims in Australia were seen spitting and urinating on a copy of the Bible before burning it, that this was considered headline news. Or what about in 2007, when Muslims in Gaza broke into a series of churches, and destroyed Bibles and crosses? Where was the public outcry then?

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by the fact that when Pakistani Muslims entered a church, burned Bibles and damaged church property, before leaving a note demanding that the congregation convert to Islam, that there were no words of condemnation from many of those on the rabid-Left who are so-often such dedicated defenders of Islam.

Unfortunately, what such people tend to so-often forget is that Islam has a history of desecrating holy sites and the holy symbols of other religions. Only Islam would build directly on top of the holiest of Jewish sites in Jerusalem declaring these sites to be holy to Islam as well, despite there being nothing in their scriptures to justify this claim.

In around 642 Muslim invaders burned the great library of Alexandria which contained hundreds of thousands of texts, many of them Christian writings and copies of the Bible. And in more modern times, who can forget the destruction of the Buddhist statues in Afghanistan? Unfortunately the Islamic appetite for destruction is well known and well practised.

The early Muslims were not averse to burning the Quran themselves. Caliph Uthman burned thousands of them in 650/651, in what is considered to be a standardization of the Quranic text. But were these other Qurans also not considered to be the literal word of Allah? Surely this must have outraged elements within the Islamic world? Clearly this couldn’t be regarded as a ‘hate crime’, even if it did cause offence.

In contrast, on September 11th of this year, a day of remembrance for those killed by extremist Islamic terrorists, a group of Muslims took it upon themselves to burn the flags of the United States of America and the flag of the United Kingdom whilst chanting “burn, burn democracy”, “Queen and country go to hell”, and “burn, burn USA”.

A clear act of provocation. An act of desecration. And yet not one finger was raised to arrest the perpetrators of what was most clearly a religious hate crime, and clearly an attack on all that we hold dear.

It seems that the outrage and offence that we’re allowed to feel when sacred symbols are desecrated is very much politically motivated. It feels like a one-way street. Muslims are permitted to burn and destroy religious symbols around the world, and for anyone to speak out against these practices leads to accusations of racism or Islamophobia. Yet if the Quran is burned, Muslim outrage knows no bounds.

In fact, there clearly exist within Islam some strange ideas about morality. 150 people in Afghanistan died before a Quran was burned by Pastor Jones in the US. These 150 people had nothing to do with Pastor Jones or with the burning of any Quran, yet their deaths have been put down to so-called Islamic “outrage”, as if they were in some way justified. Surely the burning of some paper and ink should not lead us to lessen our condemnation of anyone who would deny the sanctity of human life?

So what of the Quran itself? Does it teach us about the sanctity of human life, and is it a symbol of peace, virtue and spiritual hope?

Consider whether the following could be considered ‘hate-speech’?:

“Muslims are the vilest of animal. Show mercy to one another, but be ruthless to Muslims. Strike off the heads of Muslims as well as their fingertips. Fight those Muslims who are near to you. Muslim mischief-makers should be killed or crucified.”

Clearly a provocation, and clearly words that would offend. But, of course, these are not words that have been directed at Muslims. They are, in fact, based on verses taken from the Quran. These are words that are directed at you at me: Christians, Jews, and all other non-believers.

Sura (8:55) – “Surely the vilest of animals in Allah’s sight are those who disbelieve”.

Sura (48:29) – “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard (ruthless) against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves.”

Sura (9:30) – “And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah… Allah (Himself) fights against them. How perverse are they!”

Sura (8:12) – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.”

Sura (9:123) – “O you who believe! Fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness.”

Sura (5:33) – “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be exiled; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement”

The EDL do not condone the burning of any religious books, or any book for that matter. Books are to be read, not burned. If their message is destructive, this message can only be better understood and ultimately defeated, by being read.

However, the EDL do understand the frustration felt by many who cannot understand why there should be a one-way street of Islamic victimhood, or why Muslim “outrage” appears to be so forthcoming. Burning any form of symbol is clearly a powerful symbolic rejection of whatever that symbol happens to stand for. The EDL certainly sympathise with the view that the undeserved and over-exploited victim status of the Muslim community requires a counter-protest.

Even the book in question is one such as the Quran – a book filled with hatred, bigotry and racism, burning such a book could still cause undue offence. However, we live in a time where Muslim immigration is causing unprecendented problems. At times this amounts to a real clash of civilisations. Muslims are migrating to the West in ever-increasing numbers, despite (ironically) claiming to hate our way of life, our culture, our religious beliefs and the institutions that protect them. When so many Muslims simply refuse to take part in our national life unless they are allowed to set the terms for their involvement, and when so many communities are becoming Islamic ghettoes that are hotbeds of radicalisation, then surely there is growing justification for non-Muslims to show, in no uncertain terms, that it is our turn to be offended.

Given this context, choosing to burn a Quran reflects a complete rejection of the idea that Muslims should be able to demand that we change to suit them, rather than expecting them to be able to adapt theirs ways so as to be compatible with Western culture and our way of life.

It is time for the authorities in the West, especially in the UK and in the USA, to wake up and start to think about what is really going on. They must stop using police forces like the East German Stasi to stamp out the right of free speech and challenge freedom of expression in favour of what many believe to be a fascist, hate-filled and racist book.

The truth will always set us free. The truth is that Islamic scripture contains some of the most misogynistic, barbaric, apartheid promoting, hate-filled intolerable rhetoric known to the Non-Muslim world. Muslims who see these verses as the “literal” truth ARE a threat to Western civilisation, to our democratic rights and to our fundamental human rights. Those protesting against this threat, are not.

When Muslims burn the Union Jack, when Muslims call for the death and destruction of the West and Israel, when Muslims think it appropriate to marry and ultimately molest and RAPE young girls, when Muslims think it appropriate to kill someone because they happen to criticse their beliefs, when Muslims think it appropriate to beat their women, when Muslims think it appropriate to purposefully subvert the democratic freedoms that our ‘overly tolerant’ nature has allowed us provide for them, and when Muslims openly support and finance proscribed terrorist organisations one must stand back and think…..

Why the hell do WE tolerate such intolerance?

So when the majority of the Muslim world (not just the Muslim communities in Great Britain) regard the burning of the Quran to be an outrage, we must ask WHY??? Because it offends you? Well, unfortunately, that’s a bit tough. You have the right to be offended, and you have the right to offend. That is the society in which we live in. The society that most of us want to preserve. Many Muslims cause offence, AS DO I!!!

I make no apology for saying that the Quran is just a book. A book written in a time of barbarity and illiteracy. It was written in a time where 7th century morality was entwined with scripture. That antiqated form of morality is simply at odds with a secular Western democracy. In fact, it is the antithesis of Western democracy.

So Muslims, listen to this and listen good. When you burn our Union Flag, when you call for the death and destruction of the West and Israel, when you think it appropriate to marry and ultimately molest and RAPE young girls, when you think it appropriate to kill someone because they happen to criticse your beliefs, when you think its appropriate to beat your women, when you think it appropriate to subvert our democratic freedoms and raise monies for proscribed terrorist organisations…….

I GET OFFENDED!!!!

Personally, I believe there is no need to burn the Quran. It’s content, and the practices that are based upon it, are so thoroughly offensive as to already be anathema to most in the Western world. There is no need to burn the Quran, because it falls on its own illiterate and intolerant sword, as do the Hadith and many ‘scholarly’ Tafsirs.

Oh, and let’s not forget the Sunnah of Muhammad either. Many Muslims claim to LITERALLY follow the path of Muhammed. To do so, according to the Sunnah is an act of piety, this is also mentioned in the Quran, however acting like Muhammad did in the 7th century in the 21st century would be criminal, immoral, intolerant, aggressive and warlike, any Western nation would now consider such things to be virulent and regressive. Hardly compatible with the ideals of any progressive tolerant Western democracy.

Of course we know that not every Muslim believes that he or she should LITERALLY follow the example laid out by Mohammed and live their lives as if they were in the 7th century, because not every Muslim is a bad person. Unfortunately, there are plenty of Muslims who do. It’s those Muslims who are a threat to our nation, and it’s those who the EDL stands to oppose.

If these people had a symbol, distinct from those of all other Muslims, then the EDL would happily burn such a thing until the ideology it represents was completely washed from these shores.

The English Defence League will be demonstrating in Preston, Swindon and the West Midlands on November the 20th because we are OFFENDED! Our demonstrations will reflect our rights and possibly the infringements of our rights to freedom of speech and freedom of expression, we have the right to be offended and believe me we ARE offended.

This article was written by the EDL editorial support group.