Paul Kurtz, Austin Dacey, Norm Allen Jr., and Hugo Estrella have a brief letter in the latest Free Inquiry (From The Editors : RESTORING UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS AT THE UNITED NATIONS) that talks about an amendment to the Special Rapporteur on Fredom of Speech. In it they say that an amendment "advanced by a coalition of Islamic governments and supported by China, Russia, and Cuba" would change the protection of the "Special Rapporteur". "It would now include the responsibility 'to report on instances in which the abuse of the right of freedom of expression constitues an act of racial or religious discrimination'." In other words, the United Nations was now to "stifle the speech of the world's citizens when seen as necessary in order to protect particular beliefs and practices from criticism". And, "At the center of the human rights system of the United Nations there now stands a blasphemy taboo." One must ask, are human rights for protection of PEOPLE or beliefs?
stemcell On Sep 18, 4:15 pm, "Jason (Memphis)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Turkey bans biologist Richard Dawkins' website > > Reposted > from:http://www.monstersandcritics.com/science/news/article_1431422.php/Tu... > > Ankara - Turkish internet users have been blocked via a court order > from accessing the site of prominent British biologist Richard Dawkins > after complaints from lawyers for Islamic creationist author Adnan > Oktar, the website of Turkish television station NTV reported on > Wednesday. > > A court in Istanbul ordered that Turk Telekom block access to the site > and since the weekend Turkish internet users seeking the site have > been redirected to a page that says in Turkish 'access to this site > has been suspended in accordance with a court decision'. > > NTV reported that Oktar complained he and his creationist book 'Atlas > of Creation' had been defamed by comments made by Dawkins on the > site. > > 'I am at a loss to reconcile the expensive and glossy production > values of this book with the breathtaking inanity of the content,' > Dawkins, a distinguished advocate of the theory of evolution, wrote on > his website in July referring to the Atlas of Creation. > > The book has caused controversy not just through its advocation of > creationism but also through how thousands of copies of book were > distributed to schools in a number of European countries. > > Oktar has used the Turkish courts on a number of occasions, the latest > being earlier this year when he attempted to have Dawkins' book The > God Delusion banned in Turkey on the basis that it was insulting > religion but a Turkish court threw the case out. > > In August 2007, Oktar, who writes under the pen name Harun Yahya, > convinced a Turkish court to block access to millions of web blogs > using the Wordpress.com hosting service after finding that a number of > blogs carried libellous comments. > > In May, Oktar was found guilty of creating an illegal organization for > personal gain and sentenced to three years imprisonment. He is > appealing the decision. > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Thanks for reading, > Josh Timonen > RichardDawkins.net > > You are receiving this message because you have opted in to the > RichardDawkins.net list. To unsubscribe, please follow this > link:http://richarddawkins.net/newsletter/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Memphis Freethought Alliance" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/memphisfreethoughtalliance?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
