Austria

"Are You a Hatemonger? I Don't Believe in Promoting Hatred"

Citizen Warrior 18 January 2012

This is another installation in our series, Answers to Objections. When you criticize Islam, you may very well be accused of being a "hater," as if telling people about basic Islamic doctrines means you advocate hatred toward Muslims as the solution. And nobody likes a hater, or wants to be one.

This objection is fairly easy to answer. Here are three possible ways to respond:

 

Are you an Islamophobe?

British Freedom 18 January 2012

Are you an Islamophobe? Take this simple test designed by Lorna Salzman.

Do you favor equal rights and treatment of women and men?
Do you oppose stoning of women accused of adultery?
Do you favor mandatory education of girls everywhere?

 

In Europe, free speech ends where Islam begins

The Korea Times 17 January 2012
By Clifford D. May

It's funny in an Orwellian way that in Europe there are now militant groups with such cutesy names as Sharia4Belgium and Sharia4Holland. Less funny, but perhaps more Orwellian: Last month, the European Foundation for Democracy (EFD) held an event in Amsterdam featuring two speakers who favor liberalizing Islam.

 

Criminalizing Religious Criticism: UN Resolution Threatens Freedom of Speech

Crosswalk.com 16 January 2012
By Kristin Butler

A new resolution introduced at the United Nations Human Rights Council has free speech advocates concerned about a potential backlash against religious minority groups. Previously introduced as Resolution 62/154, "Combating defamation of religion,” the piece was originally written to criminalize the criticism of religion. Advocates worried that the resolution would, at best, limit freedom of speech, and at worst, jeopardize religious minorities in countries carrying heavy punishments for blasphemy and apostasy.

 

U.S., E.U. Spearhead Islamic Bid To Criminalize Free Speech

Hudson New York 10 January 2012
By Soeren Kern

The European Union has offered to host the next meeting of the so-called Istanbul Process, an aggressive effort by Muslim countries to make it an international crime to criticize Islam.

The announcement comes less than one month after the United States hosted its own Istanbul Process conference in Washington, DC.

 

Counterterrorism Tools: How To Report Violent Jihad Videos on YouTube

British Freedom 9 January 2012

Conservative opinions? Be careful what you say… Islamic jihad? That’ll do nicely.

The weekend’s in full swing and so are the jihadi video makers. Time for our regular visit to the Google/ YouTube Hall of Shame, checking out the Islamic terrorist video war porn that the Mountain View gazillionaires allow to proliferate on the world’s number one video sharing site.

 

The hidden blueprint of freedom: Free societies don't appear out of thin air

teamfreedom 5 January 2012
By Anton Pototschnik and Thomas Pototschnik

Why do we have unique personal freedoms and opportunities in Europe?

This book reveals the hidden blueprint of freedom, which is the basis for every free society in human history. Are we losing our freedoms again? The book illustrates developments in history which led to the loss of personal freedom and rights.

It shows alarming similarities to our current situation: disenchantment with politics, the formation of parallel societies, continuous economic crises and so forth.With the hidden blueprint of freedom you hold the key to the understanding of these complex relations.

 

A Muslim Apostate’s Defense of the West

FrontPage Magazine 3 January 2012
By Bruce Bawer

Ibn Warraq? is the pseudonymous, Pakistani-born author of the modern classic Why I Am Not a Muslim and the writer or editor of several other estimable books about Muhammed, the Koran, Islamic culture, Muslim apostates, and Western civilization. Surely few people know as much as he does about both the West and Islam. Therefore I was more than eager to read his new book, Why the West Is Best: A Muslim Apostate’s Defense of Liberal Democracy.

Naturally, I expected something wise and incisive and steeped in learning – and I wasn’t disappointed. But what I hadn’t counted on was how fresh, original, delightfully inspired, and emotionally stirring Warraq’s approach to his topic would be. Take his first chapter, which is about New York, a city he views as "a testament to the robustness of Western culture and to its welcoming catholicity.” Warraq’s goal here is to help us to see a Western metropolis through the eyes of a person from, say, the Islamic world, and thus recognize the magnificence of things so familiar to us that we may take them for granted.

 

What Non-Muslims Can Do About Islam

Citizen Warrior 2 January 2012

NOT ONLY ARE are some people killing non-Muslims in the name of Islam (in impressive numbers) but some are doing something less newsworthy but potentially more disconcerting: Demanding and gaining concessions from non-Muslims, and slowly encroaching on democratic freedoms with the end-goal of establishing Sharia law in Western democracies (and already succeeding). This must be stopped and your help is needed.

 
 

Political Correctness - Our Titanic

Family Security Matters 2 January 2012
By Leslie Sacks

Pandering will sink us, will weaken our foundations and our unique culture; a culture of tolerance yet of logic, of equality but also of independence. It is our behavior (and not our thoughts)

 

Europe's Inexorable March Towards Islam

Hudson New York 2 January 2012
By Soeren Kern

Post-Christian Europe became noticeably more Islamized during 2011. As the rapidly growing Muslim population makes its presence felt in towns and cities across the continent, Islam is transforming

 

Multiculturalism is the wrong concept

Lancaster Eagle Gazette 2 January 2012
By Richard Scamehorn

This is the first of a two-part series about inter-civilizational immigration There is a global migration, particularly from poorer nations to the wealthier -- usually to western countries -- that

 

All-American Muslim?

FrontPage Magazine 28 December 2011
By Bruce Bawer

The other day I took note here of a recent New York Times feature in which several prominent figures from the worlds of law and religion were invited to answer the question: Is religious freedom in

 

Even Austrian Darkness Cannot Overcome the Light

CatholicCulture.org: Pray. Think. Act. 28 December 2011
By Dr. Jeff Mirus

In February of this year, an Austrian teacher, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, was found guilty of "denigration of religious beliefs of a legally recognized religion” because, during a seminar course on Islam, she stated that "Muhammed had a thing for little girls.” Sabaditsch-Wolff’s conviction was appealed, but it was upheld earlier this month.

 

"A Black Day for Austria"

Hudson New York 27 December 2011
By Soeren Kern

An Austrian appellate court has upheld the conviction of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, a Viennese housewife and anti-Jihad activist, for "denigrating religious beliefs" after giving a series of

 

• Denigrating Religious Stupidity

EuropeNews 25 Dec 2011
By Henrik R. Clausen

While I was working on a polite essay ”What is 'denigration', really?”, events overtook the intended polite and analytical approach. At an Austrian court, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff had her conviction for ”Denigrating the teachings of a recognized religion” upheld. The court deemed that her uttering ”an excess of opinion” about Muhammad having sex with minors, and that doing so was subject to a fine of 480 euros, alternatively 60 days in jail.

 

Video: ESW - The Michael Coren Interview

Gates of Vienna 23 December 2011

Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff appeared on Michael Coren’s program tonight to discuss the recent verdict against her by the appeals court.

 

• Liveblogging Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff's appeal

Tundra Tabloids 20 December 2011

The Tundra Tabloids will be live blogging the hearing today, December 20, 2011, 9-11 am,(local Viennese time, 10-12am Finnish time). Elisabeth is appealing her sentence in February of denigration of religious teachings to an unconditional penalty of 480 €. The charge of incitement was acquitted. Both Attorney Michael Rami and the prosecutor had lodged appeals.

 

Why the West Is Best: A Muslim Apostate’s Defense of Liberal Democracy

PJ Media 16 December 2011
By Phyllis Chesler

The legendary Ibn Warraq is my dear friend. I decided to review his new and very excellent book Why the West is Best: A Muslim Apostate’s Defense of Liberal Democracy and to interview him here as well.

But let’s be clear from the outset. I am reviewing his book not because he is my friend. Rather, he is my friend because he writes great and important books. He is someone with whom I can share serious and witty conversations; he may very well be the best-read man I know. His familiarity with a vast array of fields is truly astounding and a great consolation (at least to me) in our world of apps and pads and short attention spans. He is supremely knowledgeable about philosophy, Islamic and Western art, music, theater, architecture, and literature, both sacred and secular.

 
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