Muting the search for truth - Protecting religious ideas but not people

Bill Smith, Editor: As many of you know, Ken Blackwell is on my favorites writers list and I hear from Ken occasionally. Four days ago, he delivered a speech at The Lay State and Religious Liberty Symposium in Mexico City. Mexico. The title of his speech "Muting the Search for Truth: An Overview of the “Defamation of Religions.” His single spaced typed speech was over four pages long and had footnotes. Although I recommend his speech, it was too long to reprint and I was just too busy to try and summarize it.

Fortunately, I received a note from Ken. He said that Mickey McLean in the Religion Section of WorldMag.com had summarized his speech. Below is Mickey's synopsis:

On Friday, WORLDmag.com columnist Ken Blackwell, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, delivered a speech in Mexico City on the issue of “Defamation of Religions” and the UN’s efforts to enforce the protection of ideas and beliefs instead of protecting the people who hold those ideas and beliefs.

In his remarks, Ken pointed out:

The [Organization of the Islamic Conference, a collection of 56 Muslim-majority countries that first proposed a "Defamation of Islam" UN resolution in 1999,]  has stated its main complaint is the stereotyping of Muslims around the world, especially post-9/11. Although the grievance of harmful stereotyping of Muslims as ideological extremists is sincere and factual, the current effort by the OIC to alleviate religious stereotyping with an international legal protection against the “defamation of religions” is misplaced and counter-productive. Conceptually, the claim of “defamation of religions” is inadequate as a legal cause of action. Traditional defamation laws are meant to protect individuals from false truth claims and do not extend to the protection of ideas, philosophies, or religions. Therefore, “defamation of religions” turns the purpose of defamation laws on its head. Human rights are also meant to protect individual persons only. Not only do “defamation of religions” laws fail to protect individuals, but they are also used to harass individuals. Unfortunately, the vague notion of “defamation of religions” laws allows government to use such laws to suppress minority religious individuals and voices of dissent.

Recommend reading all of Ken’s speeches.
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Mr. Ken Blackwell is a conservative family values advocate. Blackwell is a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission and is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council and American Civil Rights Union.

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Tags: defamation of religions, Islam, Ken Blackwell, Mickey McLean, Muslims, Religious Freedom, UN To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!