http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2385684,00.html

The BC Human Rights Code includes prohibitions on publications that are: "likely to expose a person or a group of persons to hatred or contempt because of ... religion.

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He called the Prophet “a merciless warlord, a looter, a mass murderer of Jews and a polygamist”. The Koran, he said, was a book of incredible violence.

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Originally posted by kropotkin1951:
His remarks sound like hate speech to me. If you inserted the Torah or Bible into his diatribe instead of the Koran then maybe it would be clearer to a Western mind.

The BC Human Rights Code includes prohibitions on publications that are: "likely to expose a person or a group of persons to hatred or contempt because of ... religion.
That appears on its face to be likely to expose Moslems to hatred and almost certainly to contempt. Yes if you are a Moslem in a western country fear of the majority holding you in contempt is a real fear. France is interesting because it has this so called respect for rights but has banned all religious symbols. No Sikh turbans in that countries schools. It seems banning religious expression is alright but not banning hate speech directed at a specific religious minority.

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What's next? Now you can't criticize a religion or a historical figure?

Remember not to say anything bad about Henry VIII. It would expose Angelicans to hatred. Nothing bad about any of the Popes either. Catholics would be exposed to hatred.

These hate speech laws are ridiculous.

[ 04 October 2006: Message edited by: ghlobe ]

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He called the Prophet “a merciless warlord, a looter, a mass murderer of Jews and a polygamist”

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I guess he never dreamed that anyone would take umbrage at this.

Threats are nasty, but they are common when people write or say offensive things. When I have been quoted by US Commentator Bill O'Reilly insulting President Bush as a war criminal, my email in-box fills up with death threats.

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Originally posted by libertarian:
I think that intellectuals and artists have a right to publish whatever they wish as long as they do not urge others to kill.

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Okay libertarian, I'll bite but I need to be clear that I find the libertarian party line very boring.

Yes, intellectuals and artists have a right to publish what they like. However, with that right comes the responsibility to the integrity of the work that they've written/produced, such as defending claims if they are outlandish, outright lies, or hateful.

Seems like your buddy in France wanted the right to shoot off his asshat racist mouth with impunity. Sorry, doesn't work that way. I'm not defending death threats, but c'mon! Calling Islam "nyah nyah"-level bad names, from the secure Western position of intellectual "superiority"? If he wanted a media frenzy he got his wish.

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But one of Mr Boubakeur’s advisors told the Financial Times that Mr Redeker had a reputation for being “ideologically committed” to the theory of a clash of civilisations between Islam and the west.

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