Thursday, May 26, 2005

Free Speech In Europe

Anyone remember the new pope? His name is Benedict the XVI and he has received some pretty rough press. Writers to the NY Times have declared Benedict a "clear and present danger to the civilized world". Others have nicknamed him God's Rottweiler. Further, some artists have used their art to indict Benedict as a Nazi. This is probably offensive to Catholics around the world.

So where are the authorities?

After all, it appears that in Italy, you can be indicted for writing something that is offensive to a religion's followers. At least that is the lesson currently being taught by the indictment of Orianna Fallaci for writing a book critical of Islam.

Such indictments are so blatantly ludicrous that they only need to be mentioned to the public to be repudiated. Sadly, such ridiculousness has clearly not kept them from taking place.

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