artistoli
02-01-2006, 05:10 PM
Thankfully the absolutely retarded 'Religious Hatred Bill' failed to get through the UKs parliament yesterday; but it was close, defeated by just one vote.
To summarise, the bill would have made it an offense say anything that offended a religious group. This would obviously have had extreme implication for freedom of speech in the UK. Comedians are amongst those leading the protest against the bill as it would spell the end for religious satire.
I very strongly feel that this misguided bill is yet another attempt to appease Muslims in the UK and would, if passed, be used almost exclusively against non-muslims whenever they criticised Islam.
My fears were further confirmed when a member of these forums wrote me a private message saying that I should be banned from them after I dared to say that muslims scare in another post. Saying that Islamic things scare me is, I believe, a perfectly reasonable thing to say if I feel that way. I would be ashamed to be a member of any forum where someone was banned for saying that.
To be honest, I feel so strongly about this issue, that if the UK government tries again to put a legal barrier in place supressing legitimate criticism of Islam (and other religions) in the UK then I will feel compelled to take direct action of some sort. What do you guys think?
To summarise, the bill would have made it an offense say anything that offended a religious group. This would obviously have had extreme implication for freedom of speech in the UK. Comedians are amongst those leading the protest against the bill as it would spell the end for religious satire.
I very strongly feel that this misguided bill is yet another attempt to appease Muslims in the UK and would, if passed, be used almost exclusively against non-muslims whenever they criticised Islam.
My fears were further confirmed when a member of these forums wrote me a private message saying that I should be banned from them after I dared to say that muslims scare in another post. Saying that Islamic things scare me is, I believe, a perfectly reasonable thing to say if I feel that way. I would be ashamed to be a member of any forum where someone was banned for saying that.
To be honest, I feel so strongly about this issue, that if the UK government tries again to put a legal barrier in place supressing legitimate criticism of Islam (and other religions) in the UK then I will feel compelled to take direct action of some sort. What do you guys think?