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THE QUESTION
Islam and Free Speech
A journalism student in Afghanistan has been sentenced to death for distributing an Internet article that was considered an insult to the Prophet Muhammad. Do Islamic beliefs preclude freedom of speech? What about other faiths?
Posted by
Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on February 1, 2008 10:59 AM
FROM THE PANEL
Freedom of Speech and Islam: Where is the Nuance?
Islamic beliefs certainly do not preclude freedom of speech. The Qur’an is replete with verses denouncing, for example, the use of force to compel belief, and the Prophet Muhammad is consistently told that an individual’s faith is a matter between him/her and God.
Posted by Daisy Khan, on February 15, 2008 12:45 PM
Promote respect & civility
Let’s consider a better way. Promote respect and civility.
Posted by Leith Anderson, on February 4, 2008 4:36 PM
Muslims Must Demand Free Speech
The time has come for Muslims to step up to the plate and demonstrate that Islam is a great faith that has no need for violence or intimidation to maintain the loyalty of its congregation.
Posted by Daniel C. Dennett, on February 4, 2008 8:18 AM
Mormons, Free Speech and Right Speech
Among the Mormons, one is not free to promote disbelief in the church and remain a member of the church. Obviously, this has a chilling effect on free speech, but who says speech within religious communities is necessarily or even properly free?
Posted by Kathleen Flake, on February 4, 2008 7:11 AM
Hesitance against Violence
For Islam, “war territory” is the whole world except where populations live under sharia. And sharia cannot survive freedom of speech and press. That is why this 20-year-old journalist has been condemned to death.
Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on February 4, 2008 6:46 AM
Another Travesty in the Name of Islam
There is much wrong with what happened to this young man, not just in terms of basic human and civil rights, but also in terms of blatant violations of Islamic morality and legal codes. Even if Sayed had energetically propounded the opinions expressed in the article, that is no sin.
Posted by Pamela K. Taylor, on February 1, 2008 3:57 PM
Low Motives and Higher Laws
Once you can claim that a critical press is on the wrong side of God’s law, after all, you can do just about anything you want to shut it down. That’s not only a problem for Afghanistan or for Islam. I think that’s a danger in any country where politicians claim they answer to a higher law.
Posted by Christopher Dickey, on February 1, 2008 2:09 PM
It's The Theocrats, Stupid
My guess is that Afghan President Hamid Karzai will intervene to overrule this decision, handed down by local judges (without a defense lawyer to represent the accused) in an area of Afghanistan where fundamentalist Islamist mullahs dominate law and culture.
Posted by Susan Jacoby, on February 1, 2008 1:59 PM
Show Us Your Freedoms
If freedom of speech is tolerated, even encouraged, in the Islamic world, we need to see more demonstrations of it.
Posted by Cal Thomas, on February 1, 2008 11:45 AM
Do Not Submit to Tyranny
By submitting to tyranny, to thoughtlessness, to downright injustice and to senseless intolerance we are only encouraging the maniacs on the fringes to hijack our societies and our religious beliefs.
Posted by Arun Gandhi, on February 1, 2008 10:59 AM
Muslim free speech
As for Islam: like Judaism and Christianity, its texts are ambiguous, on one page speaking up for the dignity and rights of all, including other People of the Book, and on many more pages, serving to squelch other voices.
Posted by Martin Marty, on February 1, 2008 9:33 AM
Do Christian Beliefs Preclude Freedom of Speech?
Dissent was not to be tolerated as it would both imperil a person’s salvation and undermine civil authority. In Locke’s time, freedom of speech was, in effect, un-Christian because it would lead you to damnation.
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on February 1, 2008 7:24 AM
FEATURED COMMENTS
Hewitt: Any system of beliefs so insecure that its followers must kill to protect that system from criticism is a system of beliefs that does not de...
Mr Mark: Freedom of speech is not a religious concept.
Democracy is not a religious concept.
There are no votes in heaven, neither is there freedom...
