Franz Kafka Meets Monty Python in Australia

If I quote something you said, is that "hate speech"? Maybe....

It took place in an Australian court where two Christian pastors were found guilty of "religious vilification" of Muslims by lecturing to their flock on Islam -- a set-up that right away projects grimly satirical possibilities. At one point during the trial, defendant Daniel Scot began to read Quranic verses in his own defense. The Pakistani-born pastor hoped to prove to the judge that his discussion on the inferior status of women under Islam, for example, had a specific textual basis in the Quran.

As he began to read, a lawyer for the Islamic Council of Victoria, the plaintiff in the case, objected. Reading these verses aloud, she said, would in itself be vilification. Scot, ultimately convicted, put it best: "How can it be vilifying to Muslims when I am just reading from the Quran?"

The article continues, pointing out that recent capitulation by The National Review to CAIR might seem pretty similar.

[Thanks to AnneQ and BenS for the link]

Update: I see that JC at the Emirates Economist has a posting on hate speech today, too.