“Catch the Fire” all over again:
Hate crime laws are used against us for the sake of stifling debate.
Hate crime or free speech?
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Trevor Wilhelm and Dalson Chen, Windsor Star
A member of the Windsor Police Services Board says the anti-Islamic lecture held at a Baptist church Thursday night was a hate crime, and he’s leading the charge to have the speaker arrested.
Wally Chafchak, also a member of the Windsor Islamic Association, said he and other Muslims and Christians have approached police about the lecture by Zachariah Anani.
“In my opinion, this went far beyond religious discussion and debate,” said Chafchak. “In the Criminal Code there is a section that deals with spreading hatred in the community, and I think that’s what this is. This instance should fall under those laws. Justice can only be served if this person is charged. He’s talking about hate, this person. We will pursue it further until we feel we have our share of justice.”
The Campbell Baptist Church on Wyandotte Street West held a lecture Thursday called The Deadly Threat of Islam, with Anani as the guest speaker. Born in Lebanon, he has claimed on Fox News to be a former terrorist who killed 223 people in the name of Islam.
Now a Christian convert, Anani said Islamic doctrine teaches the “ambushing, seizing and slaying” of non-believers, especially Jews and Christians. He said Islam is a religion that worships a god “who strikes with terror.”
Pastor Donald McKay, who heads the Baptist church of about 350 members, also called Islam “oppressive” and “vicious.”
Chafchak said the Islamic association will hold a news conference today at Windsor Mosque in response to Thursday’s event.
Anani said he isn’t worried about being charged, because he only drew on facts from the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book.
“What I said was fact,” he said Friday.
“I wasn’t talking about my own interpretation. I picked facts derived from statements of the book.”
Windsor police Staff Sgt. William Donnelly said Friday evening he had no records of formal complaints against Anani.
But he said there are police records of Anani complaining of hate and harassment against himself. Donnelly said Anani complained of receiving threatening letters and phone calls.
Anani said he’s had letters stuck to his door, but he wouldn’t talk about it any further. Despite giving many public lectures and speaking to several media organizations in the past, Anani said: “I’m not really interested to be famous in newspapers,” said Anani.
McKay couldn’t be reached Friday evening to respond to the hate crime allegations. But earlier in the day, he said “it’s simply not true” that Muslims are peaceful people. The Qur’an, he said, supports his opinion.
“The Muslim is mandated to slay the infidels,” he said. “Islam is committed to the domination and destruction of the West. There is no such thing as a moderate Muslim. . . Frankly, we are frightened to death. We are concerned about the Islamic threat to Canadian security.”
Ward 2 Coun. Ron Jones on Friday criticized the lecture, saying: “We here in Windsor will not tolerate that stuff.
“I’m really disappointed with Pastor McKay, as a man I respect. For him to espouse those kinds of things, it’s just not worthy of the man himself,” said Jones.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I took your advice to heart and whipped up a new soundtrack mix that lasts well over 10 minutes. I kept what I liked, but softened the overall tenor of the music with some softer and slightly moodier sections. Hopefully it’s kept the Arabic flavor that I wanted. It dramatically increased the file size but since it’s still well under 8 MB, that’s hardly noticeable to anyone on a highspeed connection
Of course, the irony is, if Islam ever takes over, music will be wiped away almost entirely and composers like Amirov would have to go into hiding and perform their music in basements or on top of mountains in order to save their heads from rolling.
Ist this terrorist a Dane?
Islam is not a religion but an ideology created long ago to justify the conquest by arabs. It is a form of fascim. But as muslims MUST lie to no-muslims to advantage muslims and islam, you can’t trust what they tell you. It is their duty to lie to us. But if you still innocent enough despite the fact that terrorism all over the planet is mainly caused by muslims, read the coran. The nice haddith are overturned by the bad haddith telling the contrary to human rights. Do it till you can do something to protect your country, your democracy, your liberty and you family.
Why can’t someone expose the truth. What civilzation are we in?. Chafchak is wrong, may be he does not know anything about Islam. This is the reason why he is so much against Anani. Anani was a terrorist before and he knew what Islam was. Can’t he talk about his experience and save the world from this rediculous religion. Chafchak should be asked to visit FFI and get some knowledge about Islam. But should not have business contact with Arabs.
This is a tricky one. I’m due to give a similar talk in a similar location (church). As this is WA and we have our own ‘hate laws’, I’m having to look carefully at what I place in my presentation. I figure direct quotes from the Koran without offering any sort of interpreattion of my own should be the thing. Wish me luck!