Jesus and Mo (29/01/14)

The Liberal Democrats have got themselves into another terrible mess, only this time the issue has to do with religion and freedom of speech.

The 'problem' stems from a tweet by a Liberal Democrat, Maajid Nawaz, which contained a cartoon of Jesus and Mo (the prophet Muhammad) - the logic of Maajid's actions being that he was not offended by the cartoon and wanted to be able to speak about such issues freely without people accusing him of blasphemy.   

Writing in the Guardian, Maajid Nawaz, defends the original tweet by explaining his intention was "not to speak for any Muslim but myself" hoping that his tweet would send a message that Muslims are capable of dealing with issues that they dislike or disagree with, while remaining calm and rational, before adding:

"My intention was to carve out a space to be heard without constantly fearing the blasphemy charge, on pain of death. I did it for Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab who was assassinated by his bodyguard for calling for a review of Pakistan's colonial-era blasphemy laws; for Malala Yusufzai, the schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban for wanting an education; and for Muhammad Asghar, a mentally ill British man sentenced to death for 'blasphemy' last week in Pakistan."

Some hope.

Because unfortunately for Maajid Nawaz, who is standing as a candidate in the Westminster constituency of Hamstead and Kilburn (London), his hopes were quickly dashed as a campaign was started by another Lib Dem activist, Mohammed Shafiq, who called on Nawaz to apologise for the original tweet and have him dismissed as a Lib Dem candidate.

Now this is supposed to be the 'liberal' party for God's sake (if that's not an offensive term - so just who do these people think they are behaving like like a 'lynch mob' and by calling for somebody's head, metaphorically speaking of course.

I've posted one of the Jesus and Mo cartoons which is making a serious point about the nature of religious belief in modern society - and the role played by a succession of prophets down the ages including the founder of the Mormon religion, Joseph Smith.

So if the Lib Dems don't stand up to this bullying behaviour within their own ranks, they will have ceased to be a liberal party as far as I'm concerned.