We Are Against Freedom Of Speech — Canadian Imam | World Defense

We Are Against Freedom Of Speech — Canadian Imam

Redheart

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Satirical depictions of religious leaders should be illegal, says Ottawa imam | National Post
An Ottawa imam has denounced the terrorist attack on a Paris weekly newspaper that killed 12 people, but he says satirical cartoons of religious leaders should be illegal. Imtiaz Ahmed, an imam with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, said it should be against the law to publish cartoons that depict religious figures in a derogatory way.

“Of course we defend freedom of speech, but it has to be balanced. There has to be a limit. There has to be a code of conduct,” Ahmed said.
Your thoughts? Should writers, cartoonists, etc stay away from religious figures? Cartoonists and others have been making fun of Jesus for quite some time now but no Christians have attacked anyone yet. Why should the law apply to one group and not to another?
 

xTinx

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Well I don't mind if they try to discuss the issue in a classy manner, befitting of their profession. Nowadays, some journalists and cartoonists behave like they're working on a tabloid magazine newspaper or something. Still, I don't think it was right for anyone to take away human lives as easily as that. For all their faults, those Charlie Hebdo staff and personnel did not deserve such awful deaths.
 

globulon

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I advocate for people treating each other's beliefs in a respectful manner and I cringe when I see published materials that are deliberately inflammatory. That being said, there is no way that offensive words and images from authorsshould justify their physical harm and death . They key for a free community is having the ability to hold open discourse.
 

missbishi

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Seems quite a sensible opinion given the current climate. Whilst recent events are inexcusable, I have to wonder why such articles are published in the first place, given that we know how some people may react. Free speech is all very well and good but lets's exercise a little discretion for the time being. I'd certainly rather keep certain opinions to myself than get killed.
 

starshine

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To be fair, anything making jokes in good humor of Judaism gets labelled very fast with "antisemitism", sometimes leading to court cases. It is true though that Jesus and the Christian God get fairly often poked fun at in pop culture. I guess the subject is more sensitive when you aim it towards minorities.

Besides, I don't see the point of provocating just to harrass Muslims or any religious communities. If you have a real message, fine, but doing it just to show you can is insulting and tactless when you know it hurts people.
 

nutshell

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When it comes to religions, there should be some respect and tact observed. But the attack and killings especially are just too exaggerated and senseless. It does not justify the cause of the action. It is just totally inhuman. There is no valid reason for such executions. Jesus or Allah or Mohammed for that matter, will not rejoice at what transpired.
 

stryker

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I think the imam probably would only defend freedom of speech and a code of conduct concerning it if he happened to agree with that code of conduct. In other words, if he likes what you're saying then you're free to say it; but if not, then it should be illegal.
I hesitate to put all muslims on the same page, but...well, that's actually irrelevant as not even the different groups of extremists seem capable of getting along.
If muslims were to take over the world they would all still be fighting and freedom would have died.
 

missbishi

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It is true though that Jesus and the Christian God get fairly often poked fun at in pop culture. I guess the subject is more sensitive when you aim it towards minorities.

I think the main reason that people get away with mocking Christianity is that it is a religion based on forgiveness. Other religions can be very, let's say, bloodthirsty. Jesus urged his flock to forgive all sins and this is what the majority of Christians try to practise.
 

starshine

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I think the main reason that people get away with mocking Christianity is that it is a religion based on forgiveness. Other religions can be very, let's say, bloodthirsty. Jesus urged his flock to forgive all sins and this is what the majority of Christians try to practise.

I think history has taught us that Christianity is not any more peaceful than other religions -- just think of crusades, of witch hunts, of heresy leading to execution. Blasphemy was not tolerated and materials that were judged morally wrong WERE condemned and censored. So I think that, historically speaking, Christianity has not been very forgiving. What I do imagine is that it is losing ground, so it looks like they are making a switch. As if they used to be the authoritative parents strongly dictating how its children should behave on every matter (being in control of education, spirituality, politics and health), and then society decided to cut more and more from this, a lot still believing, but not accepting the religious authority on matters other than spiritual and personal, in a way. Christianity then has to be the "cool parent", trying to make in some places more entertaining Sunday mass, and to give a good image, and being more forgiving in the end because they have to.
 

Peachdejour

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*dramatic pause with hand on head* If speech is controlled with a code of conduct, it is no longer free speech. I feel the freedom of speech is more crucial to the free world than a few people viewing a stupid cartoon about Jesus. I'm not going to run around with my .380 shooting people. I might laugh and then feel bad about it. Then, again, I'm not an extremist.
 

kd3pc

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freedom of speech is freedom of speech. the minute you start allowing/excluding topics and the like, it is no long freedom of speech.

As usual, some want special treatment for their "flavor" of freedom of speech, which then destroys another valued, at least by this American, freedom.
 

starshine

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freedom of speech is freedom of speech. the minute you start allowing/excluding topics and the like, it is no long freedom of speech.

As usual, some want special treatment for their "flavor" of freedom of speech, which then destroys another valued, at least by this American, freedom.

Well, actually, we do forbid stuff like: slander, call to hate and violence, apology of murder and crimes, antisemitism...

Because according to the law, this is not "freedom of speech", but rather dangerous and criminal in itself.
 

Morvack

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I think the exact opposite. We should make it a point to put religious figures in cartoons. The more we make fun of religious figures, the more power we take away from those who don't want us to. Freedom of speech should be exercised daily.
 

starshine

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I think the exact opposite. We should make it a point to put religious figures in cartoons. The more we make fun of religious figures, the more power we take away from those who don't want us to. Freedom of speech should be exercised daily.

I am for freedom of speech and freedom in arts, but I'm very critic about artists who have nothing to say and just want to provocate people. Art should build up something, a reflexion, not just try to make fun of people for the simple point of disempowering what they hold dearest.

Make caricatures of religious people if you wish, but do at least try to say something pertinent...
 

Muthoni

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I think that freedom of speech should be allowed. Everybody has an opinion that they can share. It is up to the person being talked about to choose to ignore or respond to what is said. People will always talk until they are in the grave. If they have nothing to say about a person then they will create stories. Give the people the freedom of speech. They will move on to something else when they exhaust talking about one person to the next.
 
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