Hamza Yusuf Series - Freedom of speech - حرية التعبير

Freedom of speech exists all over the world, people speak very freely In fact, in some places they speak far more freely about things than they do in the United States But they are two areas in many places that people are not free to talk about One of them is religion and the other is politics But in the United States of America, Freedom of speech means Being able to say whatever you want about religion and whatever you want about politics generally But we also have certain laws that prevent certain types of speech and we know, you can shout "FIRE" in a crowded theater We also have the Brandenburg standard, if there is a clear and imminent danger In speech that incites to hatred - Brandenburg vs. Ohio case - and there are other cases like this; that test the limits of freedom of speech Unfortunately, we have now people able to literally create riots in the other side of the planet ...Who has a church with 15 people - half of them are his own family... So, we have to think about incitement to hatred; and what that means and being realistic about it Nobody argues that Germany is not a free society, but they have a law there that prohibits denial of the Holocaust We can criticize those beliefs, Right Intellectual tomes about why Islam is not a true religion, they are many books like that and nobody get upset ... Muslims don't get upset But to mock, to denigrate, to make fun of somebody who is dearer to the heart of the Muslims and this include Jesus - the Muslims feel the same way about Jesus, Moses, about any of these prophets We have risen above racial denigration in this country in the public space If you denigrate somebody racially in the public space you will lose your job, you will lose your job! Why? Because we recognize that people have sensitivities When you don't have a strong legal system, honor becomes the way that people readdress problems That's why in the Ghettos, often when you have a type of lawlessness, there is a code of honor You don't step on people toes because there's consequences to doing that You don't diss their mothers, you don't diss their fathers If this country would only apply the advice of the United States Army from 1943, we can end all the problems I want to read from "Instruction for an American Serviceman", page 12: "You probably belong to a church at home and you know how you would feel towards anyone who insulted or desecrated your church. The Muslims feel just the same way, perhaps even more strongly In fact, their feeling about their religion is pretty much the same as ours toward our religion, although more intense If anything, we should respect the Muslims, the more for the intensity of their devotion" That's the US government in 1943 .... I mean, where the hell are they in 2012?