Intolerances

Christians made the inquisition, the largest political and religious witch hunt, official executions and persecutions in history, but nobody brings up this fact when talking about Muslim jihad.

Christians made the Crusades, a long war and human costly war, far from their original countries, to occupy other countries, but nobody talks about his fact when talking about Muslim jihad.

In recent history, christians burnt movie theatres, rioted, threatened and killed people, protesting at the desacralisation of the christ's life in Scorcese's 'The last tempatation of the Christ', but nobody talks about this fact when talking about Muslim riots against Danish cartoons.

Now, the vatican and the christian church are calling christians to boycott the 'Da Vinci Code' (a really silly story by the way), but nobody talks about this fact when talking about Muslim 'intolerance to free speech' and the right to offend in the West. I would like Rushdie, Manji and Hirsi Ali to defend 'free expression and speech' in the West also this time, if they don't do so, their stance against Muslims and Islam is invalid.

However, US vice president Dick Cheney is sponsoring and attending a conference on Islam and the West and honoring orientalist Bernard Lewis who is the author of many neo-cons ready made clichés about Islam and the middle east.

I think it is time for some healthy comparisons for the sake of the defense of free expression and speech. I think we live in times of intolerances which are on every side, those who defend their religions against other beliefs and those who defend 'free expression' against Islam in the name of the cherished values of the West.