Kirralie Smith, who is running for Senate in Australia, speaks out about a “religious vilification law” which was recently passed in the ACT Australian government that she explains is an unfair “blasphemy law.” She mentions that Victoria, Australia has had similar laws implemented since 2002, and she explains some of the disturbing issues that have arisen because of those laws.
Following are points that she mentions:
— The previous Victorian legislation which the new ACT legislation is based upon says that “A person must not, on the grounds of religious activity or belief of a person or class of persons, engage in conduct that incites hatred against, serious contempt for, or revulsion or severe ridicule of that person or class of persons.”
— Violence must never be incited, but people should be concerned that the law says that it is illegal to “incite serious contempt or revulsion for a class of people.” It is important that people should be able to do so, citing many disturbing aspects of Islam which should be criticized.
— In a well know case against two men in Victoria, being one of the first cases taken to court under the new blasphemy laws, the complaint stated that Daniel Scott and Danny Nalliah had “vilified Islam” in a private seminar in 2002 when they were lecturing about the differences between Christianity and Islam. The men had lived under Sharia law in Saudi Arabia where they witnessed three beheadings. They quoted from the Quran during the seminar to demonstrate what some Muslims believe, but in the eyes of the law it wasn’t a matter of whether the men told the truth, but rather the fact that they made Muslims “feel bad” by what they said. The Islamic Council barrister even put into record: “Your honor, may I put in record, under the new law, truth is not a defense.”
— She says, “The truth is that the Islamic ideology is hate filled and it does incite violence but somehow that is irrelevant … The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission website states: ‘Vilification is about what we say or do, it is about the words we choose when we speak to others and it is about our behavior. Hateful words and behavior can hurt, isolate, and disconnect people from each other. They can diminish our dignity, sense of self, create fear and lead to anxiety and depression.’ Actually, the hateful words in the Quran and Hadiths do more than hurt, isolate, or disconnect people— they incite hatred and violence to the point of rape, enslavement, and murder. Will preaching from the Quran and Hadiths now be outlawed in Victoria and the ACT? I doubt it. Vilification is not the most serious issue we face as a nation. Our security, safety and freedoms which have been hard fought and won are far more important. If someone is going to have hurt feelings because a hate speech in the Quran is highlighted, than so be it.”
— The legislation allows criticism of Islam, but it does not allow the criticism of anyone who chooses to obey Islam’s ideology. She reiterates again that she does not advocate being violent, but she certainly encourages people to look at what Islam teaches and to expose it. She doesn’t see how it is possible to highlight and expose Islam’s violent hate speech in the Quran and the Hadiths without also being allowed to mention specific examples, and she explains the fact that there are many Muslims who obey the most violent and extreme commands.
— Christians and Jews are constantly vilified in the media, but the blasphemy laws were not implemented with those religions in mind. The proponents of the laws said that hatred and intolerance toward Muslims was one of the biggest intolerance issues in Australia today, but Smith points out that actually the biggest intolerance issues are from the countless Islamic governments and movements who literally obey the commands in the Quran and Hadith.
— She says, “The largest source is intolerance if from the Muslims who insist that Islam is superior to everything else, and they try to impose it on everyone else. … [Another source] of intolerance is the political class and the media elite who hound, harass, mock, and vilify anyone who dares to highlight the facts about Islamic theology.”
— Sonya Kruyger spoke out about Nazism in Germany in the 1930’s when it was illegal to do so, and today’s situation in Australia is walking down the same path as Nazism.
— Islam as an Ideology has seriously dangerous flaws within the Quran and Hadith that are not compatible with freedom, democracy, or equality, and it is essential that everyone continues to stand up and speak out about it.
Visit Kirralie Smith’s website: https://kirraliesmith.org/
Visit Kirralie Smith’s YouTube Channel.