I was astonished to read this article in today's Sydney Morning Herald.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/west-must-learn-to-respect-wishes-of-new-arab-leaders-20120928-26qmh.htm 

In a nutshell, he seems to be saying that 

  1. Some new Arab Leaders don't like free speech.
  2. In some survey 43 per cent of Americans agree that people should not be allowed to speak offensively about religion in public (I wonder if that's the same 43% who believe that "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so."  (Gallup 2007)). 

Therefore we shouldn't have free speech. He then quotes the  incredible statement "If the international community has criminalised bodily harm, it must just as well criminalise psychological and spiritual harm." as evidence for his conclusion.

I just don't know what to say. I assume this guy is quite ok with Galileo being locked up by the Church, such a shame they couldn't lock Darwin up as well.

I hope the letter writers give this fool the (metaphorical) caning he deserves.