Blasphemy in Austria

Asia Bibi was sentenced to die for blasphemy in Pakistan. You can read my account of her case here. She is apparently still waiting for the Lahore court to set a date for her appeal. Christians in Punjab, India have been marching and holding hunger strikes in her support. Ms. Bibi is a Pakistani Christian. Forty thousand people marched in Lahore in support of the blasphemy law under which Ms. Bibi was convicted. The armies of darkness are out in force.

Meanwhile a comic version of this is playing out in Austria. Nina Shea, Director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom, posts this on The Corner:

Today, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, a young Viennese mother, was convicted under section 283 of the Austrian penal code of vilifying religious teachings for her negative commentary on Islam in a lecture before a political-party gathering in Vienna; she was fined 480 Euros. Sabaditsch-Wolff, a diplomat's daughter, had lived and worked for several years in various Middle Eastern Muslim countries, and at the lecture in question spoke critically of the treatment of women and the practice of jihad in Iran, Libya, and other places that she had lived in. The court found that Austria's free-speech guarantees protected her from hate-speech charges.

However, it seems the case turned on the judge's reasoning that her statement that Islam's prophet Mohammed was a "pedophile" was defamatory since his child bride Aisha (age six at the time of marriage and nine at the time it was consummated) remained his wife when she turned 18. The case was brought by prosecutors after complaints by a mainstream Austrian weekly magazine that had secretly taped and then wrote about her lecture. She plans to appeal.

Ms. Sabaditsch-Wolff came afoul of the law in Austria for making an argument. Here is an example of that argument from an interview with EuropeNews:

It is a fact that Mohammed married a six-year-old at the age of 56. To this day men in Islamic countries view this as legitimizing marriage to a minor, thereby causing rape and life-long trauma.

Sabaditsch-Wolff is arguing for a connection between Islamic lore concerning Mohammed and the mistreatment of women in Islamic countries. Apparently, that argument is illegal in Austria. Apparently, "Austria's free-speech guarantees protected her from hate-speech charges," but not from "the Austrian penal code of vilifying religious teachings."

This is abhorrent. Sabaditsch-Wolff is either right about the lore, the mistreatment of women, and the connection between the two, or she is not. Free speech means being free to make the argument without fear of prison or a fine of 480 Euros.

The inimitable Mark Steyn parses the appalling logic employed by the judge who sentenced Sabaditsch-Wolff on the lesser charge. In Ms. S-W's lecture she apparently accused the Prophet of paedophilia for marrying a 9 year old girl. Here, apparently, is how the judge turned that accusation into a crime:

The language used in the seminars were not inciting hatred, but the utterances regarding Muhammad and paedophilia were punishable.

"Paedophilia" is factually incorrect, since paedophilia is a sexual preference which solely or mainly is directed towards children. Nevertheless, it does not apply to Muhammad. He was still married to Aisha when she was 18. It is a "denigration of religious teachings" and are found guilty and sentenced to 120 days, which approaches the minimum of € 480.

Did you get that? Yes, according to this account, Muhammad married and, perhaps, deflowered Aisha when she was nine. But he was still married to her when she was 18. Taking that latter fact as evidence that he was still interested in her, it proves that his "sexual preference" was not "solely or mainly directed towards children."

Now just in case I happen to visit Austria, or come to the attention of true believers, let me set the record straight. I am not accusing the Prophet of anything. I don't know the lore and I have no opinions on the Prophet's familial arrangements.

I do have opinions about the Judge's logic in this case. Paedophilia is not just a psychological state, it's a crime. The crime consists in adults having sex with children. By the judge's logic, a man who has sex with an under-aged girl is not guilty of paedophilia if only he keeps it up until she turns 18.

That is noxious numbskullery. The judge is twisting legal logic past the breaking point in order to maintain an Austrian version of blasphemy laws. What happened to Ms. Sabaditsch-Wolff is scarcely as horrific as what is happening to Ms. Asia Bibi. It is more disturbing in a different way. Freedom of speech and thought is the core of modern civilization. All the other liberties and virtues depend on it. Sabaditsch-Wolff's conviction, even the least of charges, shows a fault in our civilization. That fault must be repaired, if we don't want women in Vienna or Kansas City to fear for their lives lest they offend the faithful.

Comments

[caheidelberger]

Can't argue here: the judge's "reasoning" is flat wrong. Any casual observer can see the serious social implications of a religion whose holiest figure justifies sex with nine-year-olds.

[Fr. Andrew]

Dr. Blanchard, I read your post and then read this news: http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2011/03/02/catholic-critic-of-blasphemy-law-is-shot-dead-in-pakistan/

[KB]

Cory: why do you always insist on being reasonable? It's very frustrating. I certainly agree that the Judge's reasoning is faulty. The question is why she bends over backwards to reach that result?

Fr. Andrew: thank you for the link. Pakistan is a very bad place right now.

[BillW]

"Freedom of speech and thought is the core of modern civilization"

That is hardly true, as your post makes abundantly clear.

In fact, Freedom of Speech is the core of American culture and civilization, and in a handful of other countries. The 'blame America first' gang of liberal nutcases takes freedom for granted, and has no real idea of the nature of the people they back in criticizing the United States.

[BillW]

Seems a bit ironic that on the very day you posted this, (1) Designer John Galliano is charged in Paris with criminal "incitement of racial discrimination, hatred, or violence based on someone's origin or their membership -- or non-membership -- in an ethic, national, racial, or religious group" for his drunken rant, including telling a Jewish woman, "No, but I love Hitler, and people like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers, would be ... gassed and ... dead";

and (2) the Supreme Court affirms by an 8-1 majority the Westboro Baptist Church's right to picket military funerals.

Among other ttidbits, the Westboro folks once said, "Homosexuals and Jews dominated Nazi Germany…just as they now dominate this doomed U.S.A…The Jews now wander the earth despised, smitten with moral and spiritual blindness by a divine judicial stroke…And god has smitten Jews with a certain unique madness, whereby they are an astonishment of heart, a proverb, and a byword (the butt of jokes and ridicule) among all peoples whither the Lord has driven and scattered them…Jews, thus perverted, out of all proportion to their numbers energize the militant sodomite agenda…The American Jews are the real Nazis (misusers and abusers of governmental power) who hate God and the rule of law."

The left sees Europe as an enlightened bastion of muli-culturalism, when in fact they are political correctness run amok to the point where people spend six months in a French jail or cooling their heels in a Austrian slammer for daring to exercise the fundamental freedoms we uniquely enjoy.

Mr Obama would do well to take his popularity in Europe with a grain of salt.

[Ken Blanchard]

BillW: Freedom of speech is one facet of the general settlement that brought an end to the religious wars in Europe. Believe what you want, but obey the laws. So I think that I was right to say that freedom of speech and thought was at the core of modern civilization.

[ecks why]

elisabeth sabaditsch is in trouble for speaking truths about islam which is dangerous no matter how it is packaged.

the twin fogs of political correctness & ignorance must be dispersed before western society better understands this menace. even a brief review of islamic theology & history quickly exposes the deadly roots of this evil ideology.

see the links in the pdf version below for more accurate info about islam
==========

islam is a horrible ideology for human rights

5 key things about islam

1. mythical beliefs - all religions have these (faith) because its part of being a religion: having beliefs without proof until after the believer dies. the problem is people will believe almost anything.

2. totalitarianism - islam has no seperation of church and state: sharia law governs all. there is no free will in islam: only submission to the will of allah as conveniently determined by the imams who spew vapors to feather their own nests. there are no moderate muslims: they all support sharia law.

3. violence - islam leads the pack of all religions in violent tenets for their ideology & history: having eternal canonical imperatives for supremacy at all costs and calling for violence & intimidation as basic tools to achieve these goals.

4. dishonesty - only islam has dishonesty as a fundamental tenet: this stems from allah speaking to mohamhead & abrogation in the koran which is used to explain how mo's peaceful early life was superseded by his warlord role later.

5. misogyny - present day islam is still rooted in 8th century social ethics: treating females as property of men good only for children, severely limiting their activities, dressing them in shower curtains and worse.

conclusions ??

there really are NO redeeming qualities for this muddled pile of propaganda.

islam is just another fascist totalitarian ideology used by power hungry fanatics on yet another quest for worldwide domination and includes all the usual human rights abuses & suppression of freedoms.

graphics version
http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/5792/dangero.jpg

1 page pdf version - do file/download 6kb viewer doesn't show fonts well, has better fonts header footer links, great for emailing printing etc
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_UyNP-72AVKYWNiNTFlYTEtMTA1ZC00YjhiLTljMDUtMDhhNDE0NDMzNmYz

[Matus]

And it is coming here what with Political Correctness and not! The truth about the Muslim rieiglon if one chooses to believe the Radical Agenda and for that matter the words of the Koran is a message of hate, intolerance, despite of women and a complete hatred of Western Ideals including Freedom of Speech and Religion! One only has to look not only at places like Dearborn, Michigan, but listen to the shameless idiots including our Muslim leaning President who steadfastly refuse to call a spade a spade! They are not our enemies. They are not terrorists. It's always alleged with them. Call the Radical Muslim terrorists, the Mullahs or the rieiglon itself what it is from their own words and you are branded either a racist or intolerant. Here in the states even now, one can be charged with a hate crime for daring to speak the truth about this bastardized rieiglon (by bastardized, I mean bent to conform with the hateful views of the mullahs and their indoctrination of the uneducated Muslim masses). THAT IS THE TRUTH! Speak it and you will be persecuted, whether it is to call the assassin at Ft. Hood a radical Muslim or for that matter criticize the clown President and his apparent Muslim leanings!

[Sasina]

Elisabeth, your fight reminds us just how imprntaot it is to protect our country from this radical, political ideology. I was inspired by your speech at our ACT! for America's National Conference and I want to let you know that we are all supporting you in this endeavor. I wish that you did not have to go through this but I have confidence in you that you will not quit or be silenced. Thank you for all that you are doing to expose the truth!

[Mode]

We are standing with you and pyiarng for you. If we, from America don't stand with those of you who are being persecuted in Europe, then it is just a matter of time, before we face the same ungodly rules/bigotry here in the United States. We do not want Sharia law here, nor do we want to lose our freedom of speech.I pray that the courts in Europe would wake up to what is happening.Blessings,Joy

[Dwi]

You're wrong, Nameless. The legal problem was soveld a long time ago using the legal notion of bona-fide occupational qualification .Let me put it in a way you might understand. You know Hooters, right? Their business case is cute girls in skimpy outfits serve mostly single horny guys .Hooters must serve all customers, white or black or Muslim, because bona fide occupational qualification doesn't apply to customers, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 put an end to white only restaurants, or a restaurant refusing to serve any class of customers other than rowdies (where the rights of other customers trump the rights of rowdies).Suppose, however, a fat bald pervie guy with a protruding hairy belly wants to wear a belly shirt and running shorts and serve guys at Hooters because it gets him off. He doesn't have the bona fide occupational qualification .I work as an actor in the film industry which of course requires females for female roles, males for male roles, and even whites for white roles, although in the LAST case the theater, in which I also work, is gradually shifting, especially for Shakespeare, to race-neutral roles: I saw Denzel Washington play Richard III in Central Park in 1990.Hooters successfully maintained that as a theme or concept restaurant, its service was also entertainment and that its waitstaff were performers (many of them aspiring actresses). Therefore the fat clown who actually brought the case lost.Likewise, the courts have ruled time and again that Catholic priests must be Catholic, Jewish Rabbis must be Jewish, the Pope is Catholic and brown bears shit in the woods, you dig me?Finally, you disgust me. You're using the hard won gains of better people than you to DISCRIMINATE and to VIOLATE the first amendment. Get bent.

[Gerson]

The Qur'an is a fellowship book to Hitler's Mein Kamf. Islam's iolgedoy is the closest to Nazism and Fascism iolgedoy. The Islam iolgedoy is incompatible with the kind of life the free and progressive world loves. Living under Shariah law is living in jail conditions. The Moslems' constant incitement, threats and intimidation of the West, their violent behavior and suicide bombing is not welcome in our midst and must not be tolerated.Islam and its followers have imposed on the free world a new way of living that is not at all welcomed. The West must not tolerate their behavior for one more day.I think it is high time that all those who believe that our freedom must be cherished and preserved take a page from Geert Wilders philosophy and approach to life: see the facts as they are and have no fear to spell them out. But most important, not to fear to stand up to Islam, which the greatest danger to our civilization as we know it. It is our highest duty to the generation to come, to have no fear to say what Islam stands for and call out the danger it is posing to the entire, free and not so free, world.If Moslems do not muster sensibilities and tolerance equal to the one Christians, Jews and other religions muster, they have no place on modern society.

[Imdat]

Steve, first one thing:One doesn't quote private caniersotvon in public without mutual consent. That's a breach of confidentiality, destroys confidence.Then back to details: It is true that we talked about this, sure. But we were also waiting for the DDL to get back with practical details, expecting to find a round of honourable people with no past or present extremist links, a transparent public record, with skill and willingness to tackle problems as they were identified, and of course reacting with disgust if Nazis turn out to have been invited.That did not materialize.Then it turns out that DDL more or less is you. That is fair enough, but I think it would be nice and transparent if you had made that clear in advance.