Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders gave a speech last evening in Nashville at the Cornerstone Church, reproduced, below.
James Freeman Clarke (1810-1888), was an American theologian, philosopher, author, and abolitionist. He also became one of the first American scholars to study and write about Eastern religions, including, notably, Islam. Freeman Clarke’s 1883 “Ten Great Religions,” includes this remarkably compendious assessment of Islam—a most fitting introduction to Wilders speech:
The religion of Mohammed is the exact opposite to that of Greece. If the Greek faith was inspired by humanity, variety, and freedom, that of Islam taught unity, submission, and the absolute sovereignty of one God. Every Mohammedan was the servant of the one true God, and his mission was to convert the world to Allah and to his prophet.
Islam saw God, but not man; saw the claims of deity, not the rights of humanity; saw authority, failed to see freedom,—therefore hardened into despotism…
Speech by Geert Wilders, Cornerstone Church, Nashville, 12 May 2011
Dear friends from Tennessee. I am very happy to be in your midst today. I am happy and proud to be in this impressive church.
My friends, I am here to speak words of truth and freedom.
Do you know why America is in a better state than Europe? Because you enjoy more freedom than Europeans.
And do you know why Americans enjoy more freedom than Europeans? Because you are still allowed to tell the truth.
In Europe and Canada people are dragged to court for telling the truth about islam.
I, too, have been dragged to court. I am an elected member of the house of representatives in the Netherlands. I am currently standing in court like a common criminal for saying that islam is a dangerous totalitarian ideology rather than a religion.
The court case is still pending, but I risk a jail sentence of 16 months.
Last week, my friend Lars Hedegaard, a journalist from Denmark, was fined because in a private conservation, which was recorded without his knowing, he had criticised the way women are treated in islamic societies.
Recently, another friend, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, a human rights activist from Austria, was fined because she had criticised islam’s founder Muhammad. She had said that Muhammad was a pedophile because he had married a 6-year old girl and raped her when she was 9.
Unfortunately, there are many similar cases.
I am especially happy to be in your midst because here I can say what I want to say without having to fear that I will be dragged to court upon leaving this church.
My dear American friends, you cannot imagine how we envy your First Amendment. The day when America follows the example of Europe and Canada and introduces so-called “hate speech crimes” which is only used to punish people who are critical of islam, that day America will have lost its freedom.
My friends, let us hope that this never happens.
Last week, we celebrated Liberation Day in the Netherlands. We celebrated the liberation from the Nazi occupation in 1945. Many American soldiers, including many young Tennesseans, played a decisive role in the liberation of the Netherlands from nazi tyranny. We are immensely grateful for that. Young Americans gave their lives so that the Dutch might be free. I assure you: The Dutch people will never forget this.
Unfortunately, however, the Europe which your fathers and grandfathers fought and died for is not the Europe we are living in today.
Read more at: American Thinker
Update: Nederlandse vertaling: "Het is islamblindheid"
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