Posted on 02/14/2006 11:12:58 AM PST by Esther Ruth
U.N. rule to bar religious offense sought
CAIRO, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- The European Union is debating ideas and measures that might be endorsed by the United Nations to bar the slandering of religions.
EU foreign policy and security commissioner Javier Solana said after a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Tuesday the EU and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) "are considering certain ideas to safeguard and protect religious values in general, but the time is not appropriate to disclose the details."
Solana issued a joint statement Monday with the chief of the Jeddah-based OIC Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu stressing their bid to push for measures at U.N. level to bar tarnishing the reputation of religions following the uproar sparked in the Muslim world by the cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist with a bomb in his turban.
OIC has called on the European Union to introduce laws barring the defamation of religions.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
excerpts....
Solana refrained from commenting on the OIC request saying "we should not let the latest developments and events to influence relations between Arabs and Europe, but we need to boost these relations through joint action for surmounting and settling certain problems."
He also called for observing mutual respect between Arab and Muslim countries and the EU.
==>> EU officials have played down the possibility of introducing laws barring slandering of religions, fearing public opinion uproar over undermining the principles of freedom of thought and expression.
Protests, sparked by the cartoons carried in the Danish and Norwegian media, swept the Arab and Muslim world and angry demonstrators burned the embassies of Denmark and Norway in Damascus and Beirut.
President Mubarak called for taking strict measures to avert offending religions and said Egypt is leading a campaign against Denmark for refusing to make an official apology.
There, fixed it. That's what they're shooting for.
Somehow I think Christianity would have to be exempt from this.
If not then they would have to shut Hollywood down.
Can you say "666"?
I notice that there was no need to involve the Vatican or a Rabbi in crafting these regulations. Perhaps we Christians and Jews should riot more.
Inquiring minds want to know: Why has this furor and focus on laws banning religious insult never occurred when the religions being held up for fun and ridicule were Christian and Jewish? Huh? Huh? Huh?
Never mind--rhetorical question!
vaudine
Since the adherents of most religions believe their religion is the "one true faith", how could the EU have a law that would allow any one faith to make that claim without "slandering" every other faith?
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9A143606-78A0-4516-8C62-7D81777F9DBA.htm
EU's Solana tries to calm cartoon crisis
Tuesday 14 February 2006, 19:16 Makka Time, 16:16 GMT
The dispute over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad should not be allowed to divide Europe and the Muslim world, the European Union foreign policy chief has said.
The publication of the cartoons in Danish and other European newspapers, including one showing an image of the prophet with a bomb for a turban and another showing him wielding a knife, provoked a storm of criticism from Muslims.
Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, told reporters in Cairo on Tuesday: "We have constructed a very deep relationship and we would like not only to maintain that but to deepen that relationship.
"We should not allow the latest developments to separate us."
He arrived from Saudi Arabia, where he held talks with the head of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
The group is lobbying for the United Nations to include language against blasphemy in the tenets of a new human rights body.
Rebuild bridges
==>>> "We are working on some ideas. I cannot be very precise, but we are working on some ideas that maybe it is possible to get through," Solana said, when asked about such proposals.
Solana has noted the concerns of
Sayed Tantawi (R), head of al-Azhar
"Our societies should cement a sense of dialogue, a sense of having relations guided by respect, by affection, by the number of problems that we have to solve together," Solana said after talks with Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president.
Solana said one of the main reasons for his visit to Egypt was "a profound desire ... to rebuild bridges between Europe and the Muslim world".
Solana also met Muhammad Sayed Tantawi, the shaikh of al-Azhar, one of the oldest and most revered seats of Islamic learning.
After those talks, Solana said: "He (Tantawi) has made his comments of a conceptual nature and I said I would take good note of the things he has said."
Though Muslims consider any portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad blasphemous, many people in Europe have supported the freedom of the press to publish the cartoons.
Because when a cartoon such as 'Drawn Together' has lines like ... 'I thought Jesus gave people tumors for marrying outside their race. Keep up the good work Jesus!' we down burn hollywood down. Maybe if we did then the UN will make it illegal for cartoons talk about religious subjects.
Remember we should 'behead those that portray islam as violent'
The U.N. itself is a slander to religion.
The day I see blue-helmets in the US telling me what I can and can't say about any religion is the day I lock and load. Given that our US military certainly feels the same way and is sworn to protect the US constitution over and above all else, I doubt it will come to that here. However, Europe is a whole other story.
There will certainly be a de-facto exemption for the most evil of all religions in the eyes of the European left. I am, of course, referring to Christianity.
People have a God-given right to slander religion, and everything else.
Of course not. Every other religeon will be the subject of persecution, while the Arab countries flaunt these regs. Our own State Department can barely understand Arabic.
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