Belgium: Police Protection for a 17th Century Pulpit

Thanks to the “Religion of Peace”

This quote from “Rudy” comes to mind.

“No one, and I mean no one, comes into our house and pushes us around.”

Police Protection for “Mohammed Pulpit”

Brussels Journal

From the desk of Thomas Landen on Tue, 2008-05-13 20:43

Belgian police is protecting a 17th century pulpit in the Flemish town of Dendermonde. The pulpit in the Catholic church of Our Lady dates from 1685, two years after the battle of Vienna when the Christian armies of the Polish King John III Sobieski defeated the Turks poised to overrun Europe. The sculpted wooden pulpit, made by Mattheus van Beveren, depicts a man subdued by angels and represents the triumph of Christianity over Islam. The man is generally thought to be Mohammed. He is holding a book which is generally assumed to be the Koran.

Two years ago, on April 16, 2006, during the height of the Danish cartoon affair, this website published a photo of the pulpit to show that there is a long tradition of depicting Mohammed in European iconography. Last Friday the Turkish newspaper Yeniçag reprinted our picture on its front page with the caption “Stop this hideous insult.” Yeniçag demands that Belgium remove the pulpit. The paper writes that “We have had the crusades and now they are still trying to humiliate us. This is as bad as the Danish cartoons and Geert Wilders’s Fitna movie in the Netherlands. Even Pope Benedict does nothing to stop these humiliations.”

Since Friday, we have received threats while the authorities in Belgium, which has a large population of Turkish immigrants, fear that the pulpit and the church may be attacked. The Belgian press reported today that the police is guarding Dendermonde’s Our Lady church to prevent vandalism to church and pulpit.[...]

[...]Meanwhile, radical Muslims in Italy are still demanding the destruction of an early Renaissance fresco in Bologna’s Church of San Petronio, painted by Giovanni da Modena in 1415. The fresco depicts Mohammed being tortured in Hell.

Continued.

More here also at the Brussels Journal:

Flemish 17th Century Pulpit Offends Turks

You may also enjoy browsing the “Mohammed Image Archive” @ Zombie Time
Depictions of Mohammed Throughout History
The Mohammed Image Archive is a compendium of images that depict Mohammed (the 7th-century founder of Islam), spanning all historical periods, cultures and genres.

The inspiration for this Archive came from the global controversy over the publication of Mohammed cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, and the need for a comprehensive and even-handed look at the wide variety of Mohammed depictions in Islamic and Western societies from the Middle Ages until today. It will remain online as a resource for those interested in freedom of expression. (Please note that the Arabic name “Mohammed” has over the years been transliterated into Western languages with several different spellings — some of which you’ll encounter on this site — including Mahomet, Muhammad, and Mohamed.)

Campaign Launched for Yemeni Journalist al-Khaiwani, Please Join

Please sign & Spread the word!
A journalist’s life is at stake.

Sticky post. Please scroll down for newer postings.

Cross posted from The Jawa Report
Campaign Launched for Yemeni Journalist al-Khaiwani, Please Join

Sign here please. Its a letter campaign to the Yemeni government, US, UK, UN and EU for my friend Yemeni journalist al-Khaiwani who may be sentenced to death in two weeks for insulting the president. We can’t have that. No. So please sign here. In Yemen, the campaign is co-sponsored by Member of Parliament Ahmed Saif Hasid who gave Jawa an interview about conditions in Yemen prisons and two prominent female journalists/activists.

Also the UK journalists organization, Article 19, has endorsed the campaign.

Some Al-Khaiwani quotes:

October 27, 2005 Yemen Times article by al-Khawiani “Stop Attacking the American Journalist” :

“Being an independent political article, Jane is an effective voice having its strong reverberation in different parts of the world. After their failure to attract Novak to their side, the Yemeni authorities turned to terrorize journalists, harm the reputation of Novak and prevent the circulation of her articles in the country in order not to let the Yemeni journalists know the westerners who back them.”

From my article after his 2007 arrest (but before his kidnapping):

Dec 2004, he wrote me from jail, “Democracy and freedom are not granted by a leader or a regime, it is a world wide human achievement of all the free people on earth.” and “I believe in democracy, freedom, equality and rights and am willing to suffer for their sake simply because I do not wish my children to suffer dictatorship and I will strive to provide them a better future.”May 2004, “We will continue our fight against corrupt crooks at the power center who are annoyed by the reports that have touched their interests,” he told the Yemen Times.

December 2006, he wrote to the United Nations, “The State hunts us, abuses our rights, and restrict our freedom of expressions. We were subjected to abduction, forcible disappearance, and illegal and unconstitutional arrests. We are deprived of our livelihood sources because we criticize corruption and the military regime that has been grasping power for 28 years.” (The United Nations failed to respond.)

In February 2007, al-Khaiwani was forcibly brought to court related to a published article. “I wished the court showed a similar zest in Anisah Al-Shuabi’s case or doing justice to Raash villagers,” he noted, referring to women raped by police and an entire village displaced at the whim of a sheik.

February 2007, he said his website Al-Shoura was blocked, “because we are criticizing corruption, the prejudices of rights and freedoms, and our continuing need for political and cultural reforms and good governance.”

December 2007: Al-Khiwani told MENASSAT.COM, “I am paying the price for believing the government and its claims about pursuing rise of democracy. After they broke into my house and terrified my family and kidnapped me in public, in front of the Al-Nida newspaper, I have this feeling that the authorities have decided to spill my blood.”

Article 19’s report on Yemen, “Freedom of Expression in Peril”, contains this from Al-Khaiwani, “They mobilize religion, laws and even the tribe against us. We, on the other hand, only own our dreams. They even want to rob us of this.”

Some links
4/28/08: IFJ Calls on Yemeni President to End Intimidation of Independent Journalism and Media
2/6/08: CPJ Annual report Yemen
1/22/08:
CPJ’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee Testimony about al-Khaiwani’s case
11/2007: RSF: Journalist faces possible death penalty over photos “liable to undermine army morale”
9/07/07: US State Department Notes Disturbing Trend
8/27/07: CPJ: Yemeni editor abducted, severely beaten
8/26/07: RSF Despite Denials, Security Officials Were Involved in the Kidnapping
7/5/07:
CPJ troubled by terror charges against outspoken Yemeni editor
By Jane at May 8, 2008 11:10 PM

Others covering this story:
Thanks to Niki for gathering them all together.

• Armies of Liberation
• My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
• Cathouse Chat
• The Jawa Report
• Not Ready for my Burqua
• Zoey @ Blatherings
• Six Meat Buffet
• Conservative Belle
• Villainous Company
• Ace of Spades
• Nice Deb
• Alabama Improper
• Stop the ACLU
• The Dread Pundit Bluto
• Ft. Hard Knox (Honor Roll)
• The Right-wing Liberal
• Campaign For a Free Media in Yemen
• Right Pundits
• World Press
• Double Plus Undead
• Scarlett Crusader
• Blue Star Chronicles
• Hot Air (headlines)
• Political Vindication
• Interested Participant
• Tennessee Free
• Political Pistachio News
• Girl on the Right
• Ironic Surrealism II
• Dean’s World
• Free Yemen Portal
• Stable of Zionist Hore #2
• The Birthplace of the Process of Illogical Logic

Open trackbacks:
ALL MUSLIMS are GUILTY…Until… @ Woman Honor Thyself
Friday Free For All @ Stop The ACLU

Video: Islamic Honor Killings and Mutilations

YouTube link

Related:

[Update 4: Reward is now $25,000!] Sarah and Amina Said’s Family Fight to Keep Their Deaths in the Public Eye

[Update 4] Texas: Dis-Honor killing of two sisters

Brigitte Gabriel on Honor Killings

When religious devotion outweighs the sanctity of life

Hamas’ Evil Twisted Claim The Holocaust Was Engineered By Israel

Also see:
ALL MUSLIMS are GUILTY…Until… @ Woman Honor Thyself

Yes, I said it.
ALL Muslims are guilty …UNTIL:
They publicly denounce:

The Modern day “Blood Libel Lie”.

A falsehood, that despite its bizarreness, takes hold…….and spreads like a raging epidemic.

You remember the accusations that spread throughout Europe, that Jews use Christian blood to make their Passover matzah. Yes, That one.

Related:
Jiziyah Blood Money in the Land of Make Believe @ Ironic Surrealism II

Muslim rebels have forced hundreds of mainly Christian families off their farms in the southern Philippines

Muslim rebels expel Christians

May 2, 2008 8:41 PM
Muslim rebels have forced hundreds of mainly Christian families off their farms in the southern Philippines, escalating tensions in the region ahead of the withdrawal of Malaysian peace monitors next week.

Rolando Garcia, mayor of Kalamansig town on the troubled southern island of Mindanao, said that heavily-armed members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) claimed the farmers’ land belonged to the Muslim minority.

“We have about 1,200 people in our temporary shelter areas…afraid to return to their farms,” Garcia told reporters, adding rice was about to be harvested when the rebels came late on Wednesday.

The 11,000-strong MILF is meant to be observing a ceasefire and a spokesman for the rebel group said he was unaware of any land seizures.

“We have not received any report on that,” Eid Kabalu told reporters, adding the MILF leadership has ordered units to abide by a 2003 truce even after the Malaysian peace monitors withdraw.

Some MILF members are frustrated that long-running peace talks with Manila for the creation of a homeland for Muslims in the south of the largely Catholic country have been stalled since December 2007.

Last week, Malaysia said around 20 of 41 peacekeepers would leave on May 10 and the rest will be withdrawn by the end of August because the peace process, which Kuala Lumpur was chairing, was not moving fast enough.

Garcia said many Christian communities in the south feared of similar MILF attacks on their farms and villages as frustration boils over.

But analysts have said they do not expect the ceasefire to break down because most MILF members are war weary after a near 40-year conflict that has killed 120,000 people and displaced two million.

The MILF has questioned the sincerity of the government in wanting to create a Muslim homeland in the south.

Although President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has repeatedly said she wants peace, hawks in her cabinet are opposed to giving large swathes of land to Muslims and politically powerful Christian clans in the south would oppose a deal.

Source: Reuters

Islamic Society of North America Throwing a Hypocritical Hissy Fit

Oops McCain refers to terrorists as ‘Islamic’ terrorists. Shame on him. [roll eyes]

Jihad Watch #56

Muneer Fareed from the Islamic Society of North America is angry with John McCain…but here’s why he should be directing his anger towards someone else.

Related:
Bush Says the ‘J’ word!
I will stand my ground! & I won’t back down!

Profiles:
Hamas
Muslim Brotherhood (MB)
Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF)

Indoneshia: Islamic Sharia Law Enforced On Non-Muslims!

04/24/2008 13:27
INDONESIA
In Padang, Islamic law is now imposed on all
by Mathias Hariyadi
The controversial local laws inspired by sharia are now being applied to non-Muslim citizens. Female students who do not wear the headscarf are suspended, and few have the courage to rebel, because of fear of reprisals.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - In Padang, capital of the province of West Sumatra, the atmosphere is increasingly that of an Islamic state. Female students who do not wear the headscarf (hijab) are frequently suspended from school. The requirement to observe Islamic customs, sanctioned by the controversial regional law of 2005, is also imposed on non-Muslim girls, and has generated an atmosphere of strong pressure on religious minorities. The proliferation of local laws inspired by sharia (perda syariat) is a growing phenomenon in Indonesia, but the central government has chosen not to intervene for now, in spite of protests from religious minorities and human rights NGO’s.

The situation is not limited to Padang alone, where the most active promoter of Islamic laws is the mayor himself, Fauzi Bahar. In this province, which has an overwhelming Muslim majority, since 2002 more than 19 districts have ratified the so-called “perda syariat”, norms that are, however, supposed to be applied only to Muslim citizens: some of them criminalise behaviours prohibited by Islamic law, like adultery, prostitution, games of chance, and consumption of alcohol, while others restrict the freedom of women. Men as well are required to wear Islamic dress: the traditional white robe called the “koko”.

The application of the headscarf law in Padang is going beyond all imaginable limits, the inhabitants of the area say. An anonymous Catholic young woman admits: “Wearing the headscarf is not pleasant for me at all, and it bothers me while I am studying in school”. Other female students in various schools complain about the same thing. If they are interviewed by journalists, the young women ask not be named, because they are afraid of “being persecuted by fundamentalists”. “We have to adapt”, they say, “we have no choice, otherwise they will send us home”. Sudarto, one of the members of a local NGO that works for interreligious dialogue, reports that the headscarf law is applied strictly in at least four schools in Padang.

Other residents report with concern that since 2003 in Padang, mayor Fauzi has moved forward “enthusiastically” the project of “creating a more Islamic atmosphere” in the city. Among the other norms inspired by sharia, they recall the obligation for students in the elementary schools to learn the Qur’an by heart.

Exactly what happens when Islamic fundamentalists gain the majority and step into the political area, gaining political control.

Think about it people!

Iraq: Teenage Girl Brutally Murderd in an “Honor Killing”

Teenage Iraqi girl who fell in love with BRITISH soldier in Basra is murdered by her own father in honour killing

An Iraqi teenage girl was brutally murdered by her father in an “honour killing” after she fell in love with a British soldier in Basra.

Seventeen-year-old Rand Abdel-Qader told her best friend how she had fallen for Paul, a 22-year-old she met at a charity where she worked as a volunteer.

When her father learned she had been seen speaking to a foreigner he rushed home and butchered her, strangling and stabbing her while screaming that he was “cleansing his honour”.

He was arrested, but Iraqi police took no action. His wife has since left him and is in hiding.

The Ministry of Defence was last night trying to trace the soldier. Officials stressed he appeared to have done nothing wrong by befriending the girl.

While there is no suggestion the two had any physical relationship, the case raises questions about the training given to British forces in understanding cultural values in a city where 47 women died in “honour killings” last year.[...]

On March 16 - two months after Rand last saw Paul - her father Abdel-Qader Ali heard from a friend that his daughter had been seen speaking to the soldier at the charity project.

Recalling Rand’s murder, her weeping mother Leila Hussein said: “I screamed and called out for her two brothers so they could get their father away. But when he told them the reason, instead of saving her they helped him end her life.”

Abdel-Qader Ali stood on the girl’s throat until she suffocated and then stabbed her, all the time shouting that his honour was being cleansed.

He was arrested and released within two hours. Sergeant Ali Jabbar of Basra police said: “The father has very good contacts in the Basra government.”

Because her family considered her impure, Rand was given only a simple burial. Her uncles spat in her grave to show their disgust.

Two weeks later her mother demanded a divorce from Ali, and she now campaigns against honour killings.

She lives in fear of reprisals. “I was beaten and had my arm broken by him,” she said. “No man can accept being left by a woman in Iraq.”[...]

H/T JammieWearingFool Via Larwyn

Related:
[Update 3: Reward doubled to $20,000] Sarah and Amina Said’s Family Fight to Keep Their Deaths in the Public Eye
[Update 4] Texas: Dis-Honor killing of two sisters

Brigitte Gabriel on Honor Killings
When religious devotion outweighs the sanctity of life

The Ahmadinejad & Khamenei Mohammedist Brothers Circus

Step right up folks! The show is about to begin. Come one! Come all!

“The Lamest Show on Earth.”

The Ahmadinejad & Khamenei Mohammedist Brothers Circus!

Footage of a Iranian Military Parade on National Army Day

Biggest Parade Marks Iran Army Day

Alalam News Network, Iran
TEHRAN, April 18–Iran has marked its National Army Day by holding the biggest-ever parade in the country, showing the world its real military prowess.

On the occasion, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended the military parade in Tehran Thursday, saying the Islamic Republic is strong enough to respond to any enemy invasion and defend its interests by all means.

He said: “The power of the Iranian nation is at such a level that none of the world’s existing powers are able to or have the courage to threaten their interests and security.”

The armed forces conducted a major fly-by over the parade ground which included around 200 of its fighter jets and other aircraft in a bid to show the power of its air force.

Among the aircraft on display were US-made F4 and F-5 fighter jets and several Saegheh fighter jets which are entirely home-produced model.

“Enemies of Iran are stuck in the mud in front of the resistance of the Iranian nation,” he said in the speech broadcast live on state television.

“Iran is the most powerful and independent nation in the world,” he added.

Ahmadinejad also said: “The army, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and the Basij (militia) will resist with force and coordination and respond strongly to the slightest aggression.”

President hails power of Iran’s Army

Tehran, April 17, IRNA

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that Iran has the bravest and divine army of the world.

[...]“Iran’s armed forces and its army manifest values of the Iranian nation today and serve as a powerful stronghold to defend Iranians’ dignity,” the president told a military parade held on the occasion.

He stressed that Iran’s army served national peace and grandeur.

Related:
Mighty Mouse
Iran Millitary Parade Pomp and Circumstance

Brigitte Bardot On Trial [again] for Insulting Muslims

Brigitte Bardot on trial for Muslim slur

PARIS (Reuters) - French former film star Brigitte Bardot went on trial on Tuesday for insulting Muslims, the fifth time she has faced the charge of “inciting racial hatred” over her controversial remarks about Islam and its followers.

Ahem…Islam is NOT a race. The case should be thrown out. -scarlett

Prosecutors asked that the Paris court hand the 73-year-old former sex symbol a two-month suspended prison sentence and fine her 15,000 euros ($23,760) for saying the Muslim community was “destroying our country and imposing its acts”.

Since retiring from the film industry in the 1970s, Bardot has become a prominent animal rights activist but she has also courted controversy by denouncing Muslim traditions and immigration from predominantly Muslim countries.

She has been fined four times for inciting racial hatred since 1997, at first 1,500 euros and most recently 5,000.

Prosecutor Anne de Fontette told the court she was seeking a tougher sentence than usual, adding: “I am a little tired of prosecuting Mrs Bardot.”

Bardot did not attend the trial because she said she was physically unable to. The verdict is expected in several weeks.

French anti-racist groups complained last year about comments Bardot made about the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha in a letter to President Nicolas Sarkozy that was later published by her foundation.

Muslims traditionally mark Eid al-Adha by slaughtering a sheep or another animal to commemorate the prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son on God’s orders.

France is home to 5 million Muslims, Europe’s largest Muslim community, making up 8 percent of France’s population.

“I am fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country and imposing its acts,” the star of ‘And God created woman’ and ‘Contempt’ said.

Bardot has previously said France is being invaded by sheep-slaughtering Muslims and published a book attacking gays, immigrants and the unemployed, in which she also lamented the “Islamisation of France”.

This is an example of Legal Jihad.

“I am fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country and imposing its acts,”

Just the fact that Bardot has been brought up on charges of “inciting racial hatred” for stating her mind and well…telling it how it is, is proof of what she says is true. Think about it.

No Islam is not a threat not a threat at all. /sarc

For those who are not familiar with the tradition of animal (slaughter) sacrifice celebrating the muslim holiday Eid. Here are some photos. As the link states they are graphic.

Eid Festival Around The World - Graphic (I)

The beauty of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival as it is celebrated around the world:

Sanitary and oh so hygienic… Bear in mind the ritual slaughtering is allowed in certain parts of the west.

Old Muslim Feast Upsets New Istanbul

The annual slaughter has embroiled health authorities, animal rights activists, politicians eager to join the European Union and religious leaders in a debate that intersects many of Turkey’s most contentious social struggles. It also has ignited arguments that even the most devoted followers of Islam are finding difficult to contest.

“The situation today is totally absurd,” said Abdurrahman Dilipak, who writes extensively on religious issues. “The whole sacrifice has degenerated. It’s like a butcher’s festival. People are taking sheep to the ninth floor and cutting them in the bathroom. It smells, there are flies all over the place, there’s blood going into the water system and street dogs are grabbing the bones.”

Is this what we want in our cities and towns? I am with ya Brigitte enough is enough.

[...]she also lamented the “Islamisation of France”.

Now where would she had gotten such a silly idea?

Facts and statistics? Um..yeah.

The 751 No-Go Zones of France

They go by the euphemistic term Zones Urbaines Sensibles, or Sensitive Urban Zones, with the even more antiseptic acronym ZUS, and there are 751 of them as of last count. They are convienently listed on one long webpage, complete with street demarcations and map delineations.

What are they? Those places in France that the French state does not control. They range from two zones in the medieval town of Carcassone to twelve in the heavily Muslim town of Marseilles, with hardly a town in France lacking in its ZUS. The ZUS came into existence in late 1996 and according to a 2004 estimate, nearly 5 million people live in them.

Comment: A more precise name for these zones would be Dar al-Islam, the place where Muslims rule. (November 14, 2006)

Nov. 28, 2006 update: For an insight into how bad things are, the police in Lyons demonstrated on Nov. 9, denouncing “violence against the forces of order.” Things have reached a pretty sad state when the police have to demonstrate in the streets against the criminals.

Jan. 5, 2008 update: In a remarkable statement, Michael Nazir-Ali, the Pakistani-born bishop of Rochester, writes in the Daily Telegraph about the situation in Great Britain:

there has been a worldwide resurgence of the ideology of Islamic extremism. One of the results of this has been to further alienate the young from the nation in which they were growing up and also to turn already separate communities into “no-go” areas where adherence to this ideology has become a mark of acceptability. Those of a different faith or race may find it difficult to live or work there because of hostility to them.

Jan. 16, 2008 update: Paul Belien of Brussels Journal provides an update on the ZUS, connecting them to organized crime in a way that helps explain police reluctance to intervene:

Continued

Brigitte Bardot dares to speak the truth and is prosecuted for it. The “Islamisation of France” is a reality folks. Islam loves to take away our basic freedom of speech. Get used to it, it is all downhill from here. Unless some drastic measures are taken and soon.