Extremist Muslims’ One-Way Street
by Burak Bekdil
February 24, 2017 at 5:00 am

◾Extremist Muslims’ understanding of freedom is a one-way street: Freedoms, such as religious rights, are “good” and must be defended if they are intended for Muslims — often where Muslims are in minority. But they can simply be ignored if they are intended for non-Muslims — often in lands where Muslims make up the majority.
◾Many Muslim countries, apparently, already have travel bans against other Muslims, in addition to banning Israelis.
◾Look at Saudi Arabia. Deportation and a lifetime ban is the minimum penalty for non-Muslims trying to enter the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
◾Given the state of non-Muslim religious and human rights, and the sheer lack of religious pluralism in most Muslim countries, why do Muslim nations suddenly become human rights champions in the face of a ban on travel to the U.S.?
◾Meanwhile…

For many years, I have been writing about the threat of an international blasphemy standard and the continuing rollback on free speech in the West. For recent columns, click here and here and here. Now, Denmark has opened up its first blasphemy prosecution in 46 years. It is chilling evidence that the West is yielding to the pressure to curtail free speech in a crackdown on those who criticize or mock religion.  In this case, a 42-year-old man protested what he viewed as the growing influence of Islam by setting a Quran on fire.  The result is now a criminal charge for blasphemy as Denmark joins this worrisome trend.