Kuwait announced this week that it will print thousands of copies of the Quran in Swedish to be distributed in the Nordic country, calling it an effort to educate the Swedish people on Islamic “values of coexistence.” The plan was announced after the desecration of a Quran during a one-man anti-Islam protest that Swedish police authorized in Stockholm last month.
Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said the Public Authority for Public Care would print and distribute 100,000 translated copies of the Muslim holy book in Sweden, to “affirm the tolerance of the Islamic religion and promote values of coexistence among all human beings,” according to the country’s state news agency Kuna.
On June 28, Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi Christian who had sought asylum in Sweden on religious grounds, stood outside the Stockholm Central Mosque and threw a copy of the Quran into the air and burned some of its pages.
The stunt came on the first day of Eid-al-Adha, one of the most important festivals on the Islamic calendar, and it triggered anger among Muslims worldwide. Protests were held in many Muslim nations, including Iraq, where hundreds of angry demonstrators stormed the Swedish embassy compound.
CBS News sought comment from the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Kuwaiti government’s announcement, but did not receive a reply by the time of publication.
The U.S. State Department condemned the desecration of the Quran in Stockholm, but said Swedish authorities were right to authorize the small protest where it occurred.
“We believe that demonstration creates an environment of fear that will impact the ability of Muslims and members of other religious minority groups from freely exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief in Sweden,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. “We also believe that issuing the permit for this demonstration supports freedom of expression and is not an endorsement of the demonstration’s actions.”
The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution Wednesday condemning the burning of the Quran as an act of religious hatred. The U.S. and a handful of European nations voted against the resolution, which was introduced by Pakistan on behalf of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), arguing that it contradicts their perspectives on human rights and freedom of expression.
The problem is mate, your country funds the worst Muslim countries and other theocracies like the Saudis and Isreel. So when you advocate for going all militant atheist, you have to consider that you’re not harrassing or kicking down an already impoverished, powerless people whether they’re refugees or victims of US bombs in Yemen or Palestine.
I obviously understand your disdain for your local Christian fundamentalists.
Who said anything about militant atheism? I’m not the guy harassing strangers with my religious beliefs in public, but I am the guy mocking and embarrassing them (if they’re even capable of shame)
I don’t give a fuck what country someone is from. You don’t deserve respect when you go out and harass and insult strangers. Being a refugee and insulting your host country is even worse in my opinion. Deport those snakes, they obviously miss home. How dare they come up another country claiming to be seeking help and then spit on them like that.
What do you mean by that? Free speech is a fundamental right in most of the wealthiest democracies.
Who the fuck said anything about restricting free speech? You keep trying to put words in my mouth.
I said fuck em and I don’t respect them and I like to harass them while they’re harassing others. Not “the government should do blank because my feelings are hurt by speech”. I said I’d be fine with deporting refugees that use asylum deceitfully to push their agenda, but that’s probably unrealistic and would probably be used to hurt innocents.
Ancient mythology doesn’t suddenly deserve respect just because large groups of people decide they’re gonna take it literally and force it on everyone else every chance they get.
Yeah. I hope you see the threat of deportation discourages them from speaking out about any abuses, or criticising wrongdoing as a normal citizen of the country ought to.
I’ve already said I understand your wariness of Christian fundamentalists.
I’m simply concerned at what I see as an over-focus on social liberalism; it muddies the waters for the actual problem of poverty and marginalisation. It’s proven that people become less open to newcomers and ideas when their economic circumstances take a hit - and Europe has a racist tendency of shoving immigrants in poor neighbourhoods to keep them out of sight and poor. So in many cases we’re blaming the victims.
In the UK Christianity has massively declined, and yet they have a decade of no growth, stagnation, a third of children missing meals and Victorian diseases are back.
Yeah I realized after I said it that it was likely something I hadn’t thought through.
The UK is struggling largely because of conservatives who tear down services that help people to give tax breaks to the rich. They’re also the ones who pushed Brexit and privatized national rail and refuse to properly fund NHS. Is it a coincidence that they’re all overwhelmingly religious? I have a guess…
My saying your religion is stupid is just as protected as someone else talking about their imaginary friend.
To which my point was the threat of deportation discourages them from speaking out about any abuses, or criticising wrongdoing as a normal citizen of the country ought to.
And: I’m concerned at what I see as an over-focus on social liberalism; it muddies the waters for the actual problem of poverty and marginalisation. It’s proven that people become less open to newcomers and ideas when their economic circumstances take a hit - and Europe has a racist tendency of shoving immigrants in poor neighbourhoods to keep them out of sight and poor. So in many cases we’re blaming the victims.