This week, leaders of Muslim-controlled countries urged the United Nations General Assembly to impose a global law against countering Islam consistent with U.N. Resolution 1618, which the Obama administration has supported, along with the 56-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and 22-member Arab League.
For background, read Religious Liberty and Anti-Christian Totalitarianism in America and also read President Obama Denies Leading War Against Christianity
-- From "In U.N. speech, Egypt's Morsi rejects broad free speech rights" by Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times 9/26/12
"Egypt respects freedom of expression," [President Mohamed Morsi] said, but "one that is not used to incite hatred against anyone. One that is not directed toward one specific religion or cult."
He called on the U.N. to consider international action to crack down on speech that defames religions.
Morsi's comments addressed a disagreement between Muslim and Western leaders that has surfaced this month since an anti-Islamic video made in the U.S. ignited protests and set off deadly attacks in nearly two dozen countries in the Muslim world. Muslim leaders have demanded that Western governments crack down on such expression . . .
Yemen President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, in his remarks, also rejected protection of speech that criticizes religion. "There should be limits for the freedom of expression, especially if such freedom blasphemes the beliefs of nations and defames their figures," Hadi said.
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From "At U.N., Egypt and Yemen Urge Curbs on Free Speech" by Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times 9/26/12
[Morsi said,] “Insults against the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, are not acceptable. We will not allow anyone to do this by word or by deed.”
Other leaders have spoken out on the issue at the United Nations. President Asif A. Zardari of Pakistan, a country that experienced some of the most violent riots as a result of the film, went furthest in arguing against freedom of expression on religious matters, using his address on Tuesday to demand that insults to religion be criminalized.
“Before I take up my speech, I want to express the strongest condemnation for acts of incitement of hate against the faith of billions of Muslims of the world and our beloved prophet, Muhammad,” Mr. Zardari said . . .
“The international community must not become silent observers and should criminalize such acts that destroy the peace of the world and endanger world security by misusing freedom of expression,” he said. The United Nations should take up the issue immediately, he added.
Nabil Elaraby, the secretary general of the 21-member Arab League, added his voice to the issue, saying that spiritual harm should be treated as a crime, even as he condemned the recent riots. “If the international community has criminalized bodily harm, it must just as well criminalize psychological and spiritual harm,” Mr. Elaraby told a special session about Syria of the Security Council, saying it was a serious enough problem to warrant Council attention.
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From "Muslim Leaders Make Case for Global Blasphemy Ban at U.N." by Patrick Goodenough, CNSNews.com 9/26/12
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono . . . noted that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says the exercise of rights and freedoms is subject to “the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.”
“Freedom of expression is therefore not absolute,” he told the annual high-level gathering in New York.
[Afghan President Hamid Karzai said,] “As we speak today the world is shaken by the depravity of fanatics who have committed acts of insult against the faith of over 1.5 billion Muslims. . . . I call upon leaders in the West, both politicians and the media, to confront Islamophobia in all its many forms and manifestations.”
Critics say the OIC-led religious “defamation” campaign impose undue limitations on freedom of expression, amount to legalized discrimination against religious minorities, and are an attempt to extend blasphemy law-like restrictions beyond the Islamic world.
Pakistan boasts arguably the Islamic world’s most controversial blasphemy laws, where disparaging Mohammed or defiling the Qur’an carries the death penalty.
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From "Allen West to U.N.: U.S. 'Angel of Death'" by Kevin Cirilli, Politico 9/25/12
Florida Rep. Allen West ripped President Barack Obama’s United Nations speech Tuesday . . . for linking recent attacks on U.S. posts overseas to a trailer for the anti-Islamic film “Innocence of Muslims.” West said terrorism, not a video, sparked the violence.
“[Obama] continues to offer up apologies instead of defending our hard earned First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression,” he wrote. “There is no message to this silly video trailer, and it is beneath the dignity and esteem of the Office of the President of the United States to mention it at all. When tolerance becomes a one way street it leads to cultural suicide. I shall not be tolerant of the intolerant. I know about the UN Resolution 1618 which would make any statement deemed by the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) ‘offensive’ to Islam a crime…..NOT ON MY WATCH FELLAS!”
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From "Michele Bachmann’s speech to Values Voter Summit (Transcript)" posted at The Washington Post 9/14/12
. . . The OIC is the second-largest intergovernmental organization in the world after the United Nations. The OIC [claims] they have authority to represent all Muslims, even those who live in non-Muslim countries, like the United States. In 2005, this very influential Islamic organization published a 10-year plan of action . . . to implement their Shariah-based, Islamic-based speech code requirements worldwide. But don’t take my word for it. They published this plan on their website in English so no one would miss their intent. They intend to internationally criminalize all communication or any communication or speech that’s deemed by them to be insulting to Islam, even in countries like the United States. . . .
. . . last December they succeeded, with both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s help, because they pushed through the United Nations the passage of U.N. Resolution 1618, which called upon all countries to enact laws preventing derogatory references to Islam – a clear violation of our First Amendment freedom of speech. And even before that, in October, last October, many prominent Islamic organizations wrote a letter to the White House, where they urged our White House to do a complete purge of any federal materials from references to the ideology of Islam, to ensure that all trainers in our U.S. military, our FBI and other U.S. security agencies be retrained so they would be brainwashed in political correctness toward Islam. That’s enforced Islamic speech codes here in the United States, and all done with the help of our president and secretary of state. It took only days for the Obama administration to reply to this demand letter from the Islamists, promising to set up a task force with these same organizations to immediately begin this unprecedented purge of our counterterrorism training in every federal agency across the board. It’s breathtaking – never been done before.
But when members of Congress, myself included, started to ask questions about the identities of who these people were who were leading this purge in our government and what it was they were purging from our training materials, the Obama administration told us the information was closed; it was classified; we couldn’t know who was behind this. I’m here to say, my friends, that we’re now today very late in the game. We’re quickly losing our sense of who we are as a nation, and we’re losing our ability to identify our radical Islamist enemy. The time has come to stand unashamedly this week for our freedom and our values and draw an unmistakable red line for our enemies across the world.
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Video of entire address by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) at Values Voter Summit:
