Battling Appeasement of Muslims in the UK: A Hit and A Miss

Hat tip: The Corner

Among the stories of appeasement of Muslims in Europe, there are occasional reports here and there about resistance to the kind of multiculturalism which requires complying with Muslim sensibilities. One case was in a school:

A school that wanted to offer only halal chicken on its Christmas menu has been forced to back down after a revolt by parents and pupils.

Children at the 1,000-strong comprehensive, where one in five is of Asian origin, will now have the option of traditional turkey with trimmings.

Oakwood School, in Rotherham, said its halal decision had been made to bring "a spirit of inclusion" to the Christmas meal.

But Rachel Johnson, who has two daughters at the school, said: "It has really rocked my boat because I feel my culture is being stolen away from me. I have no objection to halal meat being on the menu so long as there is a choice of traditional Christmas fare.

"Our culture and religion are being trampled on and it is not right."

Meanwhile, in the matter of free speech, the latitude given to Muslims--and the limitations imposed who want to speak about Muslims--continues to be revealed in blatant hypocrisy and double-standards:

...at this year's Hay-on-Wye festival, sponsored by the Guardian, where a five-person panel discussed "Are there are any limits to free speech?" One of the Muslim panelists said if anyone offended his religion, he would strike him. A lawyer, Anthony Julius, responded that Jews had lived as minorities under two powerful hegemonies, Christian and Muslim, and had been obliged to learn how to deal nonviolently with offense caused to them by the sacred scriptures of both. He started by referring to an anti-Semitic passage in the New Testament — which passed without comment. But when he began to list the passages in the Koran that denigrate Jews, describing them as monkeys and pigs, the panelists went ballistic. One of them, Madeline Bunting of the Guardian, put her hand over the microphone and said words to the effect, "I am not going to sit here and listen to any criticisms of Muslims." She was cheered, and not one of the journalists in the audience from right or left uttered a word about free speech — not hate speech, mind you, but free speech of a moderate nature.[emphasis added]

Both of these stories are from Great Britain, but here in the US there are schools have caused controversy over units about Islam are being taught that may not only teach about Islam but also endorse it (see here, here and here). Also, CAIR is well known for applying pressure where anything negative about Islam is discussed--even when it is on a fictional TV show.

How much of the appeasement that is going on in Europe can happen here in the US too?

Technorati Tag: Great Britain and Islam and Free Speech.