freedom of speech vs Islam?

Submitted by AS (India), Sep 22, 2006 at 06:10

it might not be correct that its about freedom of speech. this is not a value which can be pitched against a religion or its ideology. freedom of speech is very valuable but it does not have the 'appeal' as an issue. the confrontation is against liberal westerners and fanatic muslims (strangely they are partners!!). the pope was raising an important issue that modern western values r not against christianity and was trying to link 'reason' with Christianity and was deliberating about the 'nature' of God. very relevant points that 1 shld expect from an erudite religious scholar as against the joker mullahs.

but i guess he is laboring to say that what the west thinks it stands for are not things orthognal to christianity and should not be taken as a reason to not believe in church and forsake faith (a general trend in the west). what I fear, is that atheism will ultimately lead to a yearning for faith, and if that faith happens to be Islam, then that could be disaster. ppl in the west are pitching way of life and values against faith (Islam). The Pope is saying come back to Church and then say its Christianity vs Islam (at least this is what i guess).

the west should realize that Caesar and his army ultimately fell to Jesus and Persia fell to Islam. go back to your faith or idiots like Madonna making fun of Cross or every joker of a rock band 'deliberating' on Jesus might ultimately end up chanting namaz 5 times a day in the name of 'freedom of speech'. This is not necessarily a war where F16s and nuke missiles will be helpful, unless the side using it is completely ruthless.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".