Selective Religious Tolerance: a Leftist Tool

One would think that "Religious Tolerance" would be about showing consideration for all religions, but clearly that is not the case in Europe, as Thomas Landen at the Brussels Journal shows us:

Dispatch from the Eurabian Front: Austria, European Parliament, the Netherlands, Belgium

The Austrian authorities have indicted politician Susanne Winter on charges of incitement and degradation of religious symbols and religious agitation. This offence carries a maximum sentence of two years. Last January, Ms Winter said that the prophet Muhammad was “a child molester” because he had married a six-year-old girl. She also said he was “a warlord” who had written the Koran during “epileptic fits.”

The politician, a member of the Austrian Freedom Party FPÖ, an anti-immigration party which is in opposition, added that Islam is “a totalitarian system of domination that should be cast back to its birthplace on the other side of the Mediterranean.” She also warned for “a Muslim immigration tsunami,” saying that “in 20 or 30 years, half the population of Austria will be Muslim” if the present immigration policies continue.

Following her remarks, Muslim extremists threatened to kill Susanne Winter and she was placed under police protection. Today, the Justice Department in Vienna announced that Ms Winter will be charged with “incitement and degradation of religious symbols” (Verhetzung und Herabwürdigung religiöser Symbole). If convicted she may have to serve up to two years in jail for her opinions.

However, Alfred Hrdlicka, the Austrian “artist” who depicted Jesus and his apostles engaging in homosexual acts of sodomy during the Last Supper, has not been indicted. Nor will he be. Depicting Jesus sodomizing his apostles is not considered to be a “degradation of religious symbols” in Austria, but referring to the historic fact that Muhammad married a six-year old girl is “incitement to racial hatred.”

Neither has Mr Hrdlicka been threatened by Christian assassins for his “opinions.” The difference between Christian and Muslim extremists is that the former do not aim to kill those who offend them, but the latter do – which is perhaps also why the European authorities fear the radical Muslims and persecute their opponents while they subsidize those who insult Christians. [...]

(bold emphasis mine) The rest of the article talks about Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders, who have been threatened with death by Muslim fanatics for being critical of Islam. The forces of Europe's multi-culti political correctness are being mustered to deny them protection and effectively silence them and/or force them to leave. Ironically, this emboldens the most violent and threatening Muslims to continue being violent, threatening and intolerant. Why would that behavior be encouraged in a genuinely liberal and tolerant society?

Leftist socialists pretend to be liberal and tolerant, but in reality they are anything but. They are very selective about who and what they support. Any cause they can use against the establishment they support. Everything they do is a means of achieving power; freedom of speech and personal liberty are not values worth protecting for everyone, they are just tools to use selectively in pursuit of political power. The ends justifies the means.

In Turkey, the secular Left opposes the conservative Islamic AKP party. But in Europe, the Left supports Islamists. Why? Because in Europe, Leftists and Islamists have a common enemy they hate; Christian conservatives.

In Iran in the 1970's, the political Left joined forces with the Islamic Right to overthrow the Shah. The Leftists foolishly believed the Islamists would share power with them, and bring about a secular socialist state. Instead, when the Shah was driven out, the Islamists killed or exiled the leaders of the Left and subjugated their followers, under a rigid an intolerant Islamic theocratic state.

Leftists often have self-destructive tendencies, and also fail to learn from their mistakes, repeating them again and again. Even if they won't learn, surely the rest of us can? Their mistakes are a lesson for us all.


Related Links:

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