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PAGE 4, JANUARY 5, 2009, THE ISLANDER
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The Worldwide Danger of Religious Fundamentalism
By John W. Whiteheod
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2008
The world has moved one step closer
to total censorship. For the fourth year
running, on Dec. 18, 2008, the United
Nations General Assembly has passed
a defamation of religion resolution that
threatens to undermine the right to
freedom of thought, conscience and
religion enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
Ironically, the UN's passage of the
nonbinding resolution coincides with
the 60th anniversary of the Declara
tion, which was adopted in December
1948. At the time, Eleanor Roosevelt
predicted that it "may well become the
international Magna Carta of all men
everywhere." Roosevelt's insight has
proven true.
In the 60 years since its passage,
the Declaration has become one of
the most translated documents in the
world and has served as the foundation
for a growing number of international
treaties and laws promoting human
rights.
Among the many rights acknowl
edged in the Declaration is "the right
to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion." This expansive right includes
"the freedom to change [your] religion
or belief, and freedom, either alone or
in community with others and in public
or private, to manifest [your] religion
or belief in teaching, practice, worship
and observance."
However, the right to freedom of
speech and thought has now been
placed in great jeopardy due to a con
certed attack from the Organization
of Islamic Countries (OIC), which has
a permanent delegation to the UN.
This group, which rejected the Uni
versal Declaration of Human Rights
as not being consistent with Sharia (or
Islamic) law, represents more than 50
Muslim nations and is reportedly the
most powerful voting bloc at the UN.
Over the course of the past 10 years,
the OIC has purposefully and craftily
proposed and advanced various resolu
tions before the UN, including this lat
est effort, to "safeguard" religion, spe
cifically Islam, from defamation. What
this amounts to is a thinly disguised
effort by religious fundamentalists to
curtail any form of criticism of Islam by
restricting free speech globally.
Fundamentalism, which stresses
strict and literal adherence to a set of
basic principles, is worrisome in any
form, whether it be social, political or
religious. Religious fundamentalists,
however, are particularly dangerous.
In attempting to impose their views
on the rest of the world, religious fun
damentalists are hostile to anything
that disagrees with their religion. For
example, in 2003, the governments of
Bangladesh and Pakistan banned an
edition of Newsweek magazine because
it contained an article suggesting that
some of the Koran's language had
been mistranslated and, thus, miscon
strued.
Routinely in Muslim countries, that
hostility is backed by governmental
regimes, resulting in devastating conse
quences. Examples abound. In Novem
ber 2002, Hashem Aghajari, a history
professor at an Iranian university in
Tehran, was sentenced to death for
apostasy after he questioned the rule
of clerics and the principle of emulating
religious leaders. In February 2007, an
Egyptian internet blogger was sen
tenced to four years in prison for a blog
"insulting" Islam. In November 2007,
a 54-year-old British school teacher
working in Sudan was sentenced to 15
days in jail and deportation for allow
ing her students to name a teddy bear
Muhammad, a common Muslim name.
In October 2008, a Jordanian poet was
arrested for incorporating verses of the
Koran into his romantic poetry. If con
victed, he could face up to three years
in jail. An Afghan student was accused
of blasphemy and sentenced to death
for allegedly downloading and distrib
uting a report on Islamic fundamental
ists' oppression of women.
These acts of intolerance have,
unfortunately, emboldened militant
Islamists in non-Muslim countries to
terrorize those who appear critical of
Islam. In November 2004, Dutch film
maker Theo van Gogh was shot and
killed over his film Submission, which
tells the story of a Muslim woman
forced into an arranged marriage and
abused by both her husband and uncle.
Several years later, a Danish newspa
per's publication of 12 caricatures of
the prophet Muhammad incited wide
spread riots and violence throughout
the Muslim world, resulting in over
139 deaths and 823 injuries, as well as
the Norwegian and Danish embassies
in Syria being torched.
Consequently, fear of reprisals from
Islamic fundamentalists is gaining
momentum in non-Muslim nations.
This was most vividly illustrated in
Sept. 2008 when Random House, an
American company, discarded plans to
publish the novel The Jewel of Medina.
This was due to fears that the novel
about Muhammad's third wife (and
child bride) Aisha "might be offensive
to some in the Muslim community, but
also that it could incite acts of violence
by a small, radical segment."
Fear is understandably a powerful
weapon, and religious fundamental
ists have learned only too well how
to use it to their advantage. Yet the
UN's support of a resolution that will
ostensibly eradicate freedom of speech
and thought seems to have more to do
with a politically correct fear of causing
offense and stirring up negative feel
ings than fear of reprisals.
For example, the latest "Defamation
of Religions" resolution, which aims to
criminalize under international law
speech defamatory of religion, was
passed by a vote of 86 to 53, with 42
abstentions. It had already been given
the green light by the UN Human
Rights Council and the Third Com
mittee of the UN General Assembly.
Specifically, this OIC resolution asks
all countries to create legal and con
stitutional systems to outlaw speech
that is an "incitement to religious
hatred." Although purportedly univer
sal in intent, the resolution specifically
singles out only Islam and Muslims
by name as targets of "an overall cam
paign of defamation of religions."
The danger, as Marc Stem of the
American Jewish Congress points out,
is that "by makin g such 'defamation
of religion' a crime under international
law, nations would be able to seek
extradition and trial abroad of persons
who make statements critical or offen
sive to one or all faiths anywhere in the
world." Already, a group in Jordan has
demanded extradition of the Danish
cartoonist who created the Muham
mad caricatures.
Fortunately, organizations such as
the Coalition to Defend Free Speech
(comprised of such disparate groups
as the American Jewish Congress, The
Rutherford Institute and the Interna
tional Quranic Center, united in their
efforts to protect free speech and expres
sion), are urging UN member states
to reject these defamation resolutions.
But it will take a concerted effort by
world leaders as well to ensure that the
religious fundamentalists don't prevail.
This will require a renewed commit
ment from the United States to active
ly champion human rights, rather than
merely spouting platitudes.
Constitutional attorney and author
John W. Whitehead is founder and
president of The Rutherford Institute.
His new hook The Change Manifesto
(Sourcebooks) is now available in book
stores and online. He can be contacted
at johnw@rutherford.org. Information
about The Rutherford Institute is avail
able at www.rutherford.org. □
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