Bangladesh: Muslim converts to Christianity beaten, falsely charged with attempted murder, told they are "polluting" society

Posted by Marisol on October 28, 2010 12:06 AM | jihadwatch.org

But a little pious violence to deny people freedom of conscience? Why, that just keeps society sparkling and lemony-fresh. "Christian Family in Bangladesh Attacked, Charged with Crime," from Compass Direct News, October 27:

LOS ANGELES, October 27 (CDN) -- Muslim neighbors of a Christian family in Bangladesh scheduled to be baptized last month beat them and filed a false charge of attempted murder against them and other Christians, the head of the family said.

Foyez Uddin, 62, told Compass that his neighbor Nazrul Islam and Islam's relatives told him, his wife and his two adult children that as Christians they were "polluting" society and beat them on Sept. 17 in Joysen village in Rangpur district, some 300 kilometers (186 miles) north of Dhaka. Islam is a policeman.

Islam's uncle, Abdul Mannan Miah, then filed false charges against Uddin, his family and three others, accusing them of trying to kill Miah's niece, Uddin said by telephone after his release on bail on Oct. 8. The village is under Pirgacha police jurisdiction.

Uddin said his family was fishing at his pond on Sept. 17 when eight to 10Muslim neighbors led by Islam appeared and began speaking abusively about their Christian faith.

That's Nazrul Islam, but the puns all but write themselves.

"Nazrul told us, 'You are polluting society by deviating from Islam. Come back to Islam, otherwise we will not allow any Christian to live here in this village,'" Uddin said.

He told them that his family would not return to Islam, Uddin said.

"I replied, 'Invite Islamic scholars, and if they can satisfy us in light of the Quran, then we will go back to Islam. Otherwise nothing can affect our unshakeable faith in Christ,'" Uddin said. "They beat me, my wife and two sons for objecting to their proposal to come back to Islam."

The angry neighbors then broke into his home and burned two Bibles, tore two others and ripped four hymnals, he said, and they also damaged some furniture and chairs. Their home serves as a worship venue, and Uddin said the villagers also hacked with a machete the sign board of their house church, Faith Bible Church of God.

Apostates are lawful for slaughter under Islamic law according to  Muhammad's own command. That raises very real concerns that the violence here may escalate even further.

The pastor of the church, Lavlu Sadik Lebio, told Compass that he went to a nearby police station to complain about the attack, but officers did not respond to him. He said he only went to inform police, not file a case, but even so officers were unresponsive.

"Intentionally burning Bibles was the most sacrilegious attack on our faith - how can a member of the police department do that?"Pastor Lebio said. "Those people should have kept in mind how an announcement of burning a copy of the Quran in the U.S. stirred up the anger, discontent and hatred of Muslims all over the world."

But the nature of their status as subjugated peoples, or dhimmis, under Islamic law precludes reciprocity of respect and rights for non-Muslims, to say nothing of apostates, who have no such scheme of "protection."

Taken into police custody on Sept. 18, Uddin said he and his family were unable to be baptized as planned....

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/10/bangladesh-muslim-converts-to-christianity-beaten-falsely-charged-with-attempted-murder-told-they-ar.html

Plans for Church Named after Mother Teresa Angers Islamists...Islamic fundamentalists against church named after Mother Teresa

10/22/2010 13:06
INDONESIA
by Mathias Hariyadi




Plans to build a Catholic place of worship in Cikarang, some 60 kilometres east of Jakarta, is generating opposition among Muslim groups. At least six churches were attacked since last year. Several Protestant clergymen were also assaulted. The authorities have been criticised for failing to stem the wave of intolerance.

Very Peaceful Barbarians Muslims...

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Anti-Christian intolerance is raising its ugly head again. Islamic fundamentalist groups are increasingly trying to stop the construction of churches in areas where the Catholic Church is present. Government slowness in reacting to such phenomena has come under fire because it effectively adds more fuel to the flames of intolerance fanned by such groups (See Mathias Hariyadi, “Religious intolerance rising among Indonesian Muslims,” in AsiaNews 5 October 2010)
The most recent example of this trend involves the Saint Mother Teresa Parish in Cikarang, some 60 kilometres east of Jakarta. The situation here is the more worrisome since Indonesian authorities have shown little or no desire to intervene in the matter, and this despite sharp criticism from inter-faith and human rights groups.
In recent days, some provocative banners opposing plans to build a new church in Cikarang have appeared. “The Islamic Group Ukuwah Islamiyah rejects any plan to construct a church in Bunda Teresa Cikarang,” read one banner displayed in front of a local mosque in Taman Sentosa Cikarang.
Another one on Bandung Street, in Cinere, carried the same message but against another Christian place of worship slated for construction only 200 metres from a local police station.
In both cases, it is clear that the lack of action by the authorities against this kind of protests to ensure a spirit of harmony between religions has fuelled intolerance.
Opposition to the Mother Teresa Church in Cikarang started in September when someone began spreading rumours about the potential “Christianisation” of the Bekasi Regency (district), a predominantly Muslim area.
According to the rumour, a church and other buildings would be built that together would constitute the largest Christian centre in Asia.
Opponents to the Church charged that the latter would become a magnet for proselytising, thus threatening the district’s Muslim majority.
Saint Mother Teresa Parish was founded in 2004 and has a congregation of some 6,000 members. It does not have a church building, and has to celebrate Mass in the gym of a local Catholic school.
In recent weeks, Bekasi Regency has seen a number of episodes of intolerance directed at Christians from different confessions. Since 2009, at least six churches have been attacked and several Protestant clergymen have been the victims of assault.


http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Islamic-fundamentalists-against-church-named-after-Mother-Teresa-19795.html

Christian Convert Beaten to Death...Iranian Christian Dies After Being Beaten by Relative

Sunday, October 24, 2010 (1:07 am)

By Marshall Ramsey II, Worthy News Correspondent

TEHRAN, IRAN (Worthy News)-- A believer with a Muslim Background (BMB) died in Iran after being severely beaten by a relative, according to Christian Human rights group.

According to Middle East Concern, he left behind a wife and two young children.  Due to security concerns to the surviving family, the man's name was not able to be released.

A number of Christians continue to be held in jail in Iran for their faith in Jesus Christ. According to Farsi Christian News Network, three of 15 believers arrested near Mashhad on July 8th of this year are still in detention. They are under pressure to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ, but have refused to do so.

In the city of Ahvaz, another believer, the assistant pastor of a fellowship, remains detained after having been arrested during a raid on his home July 24th. His wife and daughter were also arrested and detained, but were released shortly after.

According to a report on Iranian State television in early September, nine Christians were arrested in the town of Hamedan on charges of evangelism. Any religion other than Islam is forbidden in Iran.


http://www.worthynews.com/9695-iranian-christian-dies-after-being-beaten-by-relative

Halal Hairdressers Promise Clients a 'Man-Free Zone'...Now it’s halal hairdressing: a snip for Scottish Muslims

• 

• Mahida Iqbal struck on the idea of a ladies-only salon after offering an at-home hair service to her Muslim customers.

Exclusive: Helen McArdle

24 Oct 2010

With its frosted windows, CCTV cameras, and tightly monitored security entrance, it is going to be one of Aberdeen’s most secretive business enterprises.

So, you could be forgiven for wondering if the shop has something to hide.

Well, it does – its customers. Or rather it is the customers who want to remain hidden. For this is Scotland’s first ‘halal hairdressers’ – a beauty salon which conforms to the strict rules of Islam; a place were Muslim women who wear the veil or headscarf can be seen uncovered without the risk of the gaze of men.

Discreet Creative Hairdressing, scheduled to open in three weeks, is the brainchild of 21-year-old Mahida Iqbal and her husband of nine months, Fueb Mieh.

The salon will be a ‘man-free zone’. The frosted windows will stop any inquisitive men passing by from gawping at the clients. No-one can get in without passing through a secure buzzer entry system with CCTV. All this means that the Muslim ladies who have come for a new hair-do can remove their headscarves safe in the knowledge that only other women can see them.

Our salon is completely discreet, completely hidden from the public, from men, whereas the salons here, men still walk past and they can still see in or come in. 

Mahida Iqbal

Iqbal hit on the idea when she began wearing the headscarf for the first time last year, although she credits her husband – a fellow entrepreneur who runs Indian takeaways – for coming up with the proposal.

“At first I was just going to open up a hair salon that was going to be ladies-only,” said Iqbal. “But then my husband suggested I should target the Muslim community because there isn’t a salon yet in Aberdeen that provides these services.” She spoke to Muslim women who wanted a ‘halal’ service, but had nowhere to go. “So I used to go and do homers for the ladies, or they would come to my house.”

While there are other salons in Scotland which offer a ladies-only service, Iqbal wants to offer something geared to the needs of the Muslim community.

She said: “There are hair salons in Glasgow that are ladies-only, but not like our salon. Our salon is completely discreet, completely hidden from the public, from men, whereas the salons here, men still walk past and they can still see in or come in. Ours has a buzzer entry system, and we’ve got CCTV so that we can see who’s actually approaching the door.

“We can allow people in and if there is a man there then we won’t let him in. And there’s the window frosting as well. There’s a big population in Aberdeen that are Muslim. There’s Pakistani, Bengali, African, black American, Arabic – there’s a very large Muslim community. And me myself, attending mosque and attending Muslim events, I’ve got to know a lot of the Muslim ladies, so I’m hoping to generate a lot of business by word of mouth.”

However, Iqbal is not content to stop at hair-styling alone. Her salon will be a haven to a whole range of the pampering needs for Muslim women, with a variety of specialist beauty techniques such as henna tattooing and facial threading – an ancient hair-removal technique – also on offer.

“We’ve got an African hair stylist because afro hair is different from European hair, so she’s going to be doing braiding and taking care of African clients. We’re going to have a make-up artist, a beautician, a nail technician, a henna artist, a threading specialist, and teeth whitening as well.”

“It is somewhere where customers can feel comfortable, feel pampered and relaxed, knowing that no-one is going to come in and disturb them,” Iqbal added. “Muslim husbands can feel relaxed knowing that their wife is safe, where no man is going to be able to see them, and then they can come home and show their beauty. Muslim clients have never experienced this ever. It’s a great feeling.”

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/now-it-s-halal-hairdressing-a-snip-for-scottish-muslims-1.1063415

Lebanese prelates caution Synod on problems of dialogue with Islam

October 22, 2010

Two Lebanese Catholic prelates questioned the feasibility of dialogue with Islam during discussions on October 21 at the Synod of Bishops.

Commenting on propositions advocating inter-religious dialogue, Syrian Catholic Bishop Flavien Joseph Melki of Dara, Lebanon questioned whether the suggestions were realistic:

Is it even thinkable that the Arabic countries of the Middle East, where fundamentalism is becoming more entrenched, will accept in the near future abandoning their theocratic regimes founded on the Koran and the Sharia, which constitute flagrant discrimination towards non-Muslims? To me this seems to be in the domain of utopia, for the centuries to come.

Archbishop Raboula Antoine Beylouni, also a Syrian-Catholic prelate from Lebanon, raised similar questions. Because the Muslim believes that the Qu’ran offers the absolute and complete truth, the archbishop said, “he comes to dialogue with a sense of superiority.” More ominously, he continued, the Qu’ran “commands the imposition of religion through force—with the sword.” As a result, the archbishop said, Muslims are unlikely to recognize religious freedom.

Archbishop Beylouni offered a practical suggestion for efforts at dialogue with Islam. Because the Qu’ran treats the Virgin Mary with great reverence, he said, “we should turn to her for all dialogue and all encounters with the Muslims.” He concluded his remarks with a reference to one very significant inter-faith agreement in his own country: “If it pleased God that the Feast of the Annunciation was declared a national feast day in Lebanon for Christians and Muslims, may it also become a national feast day in other Arab countries.”


http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=8029

Vatican: Koran encourages 'killing Christians'

Vatican City, 22 Oct. (AKI) - The Koran is a text that encourages Islam to impose itself with force and permits the killing of Christians, said Lebanon's Catholic Patriarch of Antioch Archbishop Raboula Beylouni, addressing a Vatican meeting of Middle East bishops.

"The Koran gives Muslims the right to judge Christians and kill them with Jihad," he said. "It gives orders to impose religion with force, with the sword. For this reason, Muslims don't recognise the freedom of religion among themselves or others."

Pope Benedict XVI on 11 Oct. the opened the two-week-long meeting of 246 Middle East bishops and other religious leaders by lashing out against violence "in God's name".

The pontiff warned delegates to guard against the spread of "terrorist ideology" in the modern world.

Among clerics attending the meeting were Muhammad al-Sammak, political counsellor to the Grand Mufti of Lebanon, representing Sunni Islam; and Ayatollah Seyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Ahmadabadi, a law professor at the Shahid Beheshti University of Tehran and member of the Iranian Academy of Sciences, representing Shia Islam. 

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Religion/?id=3.1.1142668038

Dragon tries to buy baby

Fri Oct 22 2010 16:31:00

Children's charities are shocked after James Caan tired to buy a baby while doing charity work in Pakistan.

The Pakistani-born businessman was visiting villages hit by the devastating floods that have swept the country when he says he had a "moment of madness".

In the video the Dragon's Den star can be seen trying to negotiate buying a baby from a poverty stricken family. Sara, who is just 40 weeks old, lost her home in the floods.

Caan offers to give her a better life for the price of 100,000 rupees, over £1,000. He says his brother is looking for a baby and could take care of her.

Caan's daughter, who accompanied him on the trip, can be seen protesting in the background.

The millionare has since defended himself, claiming he was overcome with emotion and was "not acting rationally".

He said that he recognises it was wrong and the baby would be better off staying with her family.

http://itn.co.uk/a21d3559f57b9445bea2efab5f4e706e.html

Syrian Bishops Admit Limits to Inter-Faith Dialog with Islam...TWO BRAVE ARAB BISHOPS ADMIT ISLAM IS SUPREMACIST AND DIALOGUE WITH ITS MEMBERS MEANINGLESS.......

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Bishop Flavien Joseph Melki: Hey Qaradawi you

really are the quintessential Islamic supremacist

These two brave bishops are saying something that the Tundra Tabloids has been saying for years, that Islam is inherently supremacist and engaging in dialogue with its members is entirely meaningless. KGS


H/T Dennis

Lebanese prelates caution Synod on problems of dialogue with Islam

Two Lebanese Catholic prelates questioned the feasibility of dialogue with Islam during discussions on October 21 at the Synod of Bishops. Commenting on propositions advocating inter-religious dialogue, Syrian Catholic Bishop Flavien Joseph Melki of Dara, Lebanon questioned whether the suggestions were realistic:

Is it even thinkable that the Arabic countries of the Middle East, where fundamentalism is becoming more entrenched, will accept in the near future abandoning their theocratic regimes founded on the Koran and the Sharia, which constitute flagrant discrimination towards non-Muslims? To me this seems to be in the domain of utopia, for the centuries to come.

Archbishop Raboula Antoine Beylouni, also a Syrian-Catholic prelate from Lebanon, raised similar questions. Because the Muslim believes that the Qu’ran offers the absolute and complete truth, the archbishop said, “he comes to dialogue with a sense of superiority.” More ominously, he continued, the Qu’ran “commands the imposition of religion through force—with the sword.” As a result, the archbishop said, Muslims are unlikely to recognize religious freedom.

MORE HERE.

Christian Pastor 'Has Less than a Week to Live'... Christian Pastor in Iran Faces Death Penalty in One Week for ’Thought Crime.’

Believers in the West Urged to Inform Friendly Governments of Pastor’s Impending Death Sentence

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

TEHRAN, IRAN (ANS) -- A Christian pastor in Iran who was sentenced to death for what is being called a "thought crime" has less than a week to live.

Pastor Youcef and 'Sister Tina' Nadarkhani(Courtesy Present Truth Ministries).

Advocates for Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani told ASSIST News that while all of the other prisoners arrested in a wide-ranging crackdown by Iranian authorities have been released, Nadarkhani still faces the death penalty on October 24.

Present Truth Ministries (www.presenttruthmn.com ) says all detained recently by the Iranian Government, except for Youcef and one other pastor who is awaiting one more judge to pass the death sentence, are now free from prison.

The ministry says Youcef only has one more week before his sentence is due to be carried out. Sunday, October 24 is the date of his impending execution. However, the ministry did have good news to share about Youcef's wife, known affectionately as "Sister Tina."

Writing on the ministry webblog, Jason DeMars says: "We have received news that Monday, October 11, Fatemeh Pasandideh (Youcef Nadarkhani's wife) has been released! A second trial was held and she was acquitted and released and is now home with her two children! What a wonderful thing to be thankful for on Thanksgiving!! (in Canada)."

DeMars had just received a report that Fatemeh Pasandideh (Sister Tina), the wife of pastor Youcef Nadarkhani was released as of early last week.

DeMars writes: "Previously, she had been convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the 'thought crime' of converting to Christianity."

He continued: "The attorney that was hired appealed the verdict and a new trial was held. She was acquitted of the crime and released. She has now been reunited with her two boys. Give thanks to God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for his grace and mercy in answering our prayers and allowing sister Tina to be released."

DeMars asks Chrstians in the West to continue to pray for Sister Tina's husband, Youcef Nadarkhani and to approach government authorities to lobby for Youcef's acquittal and release.

"He is still in prison and has been sentenced to death. We have a week to spread the word to others to pray and to inform government officials of the violation of his human rights."

DeMars said Nadarkhani was convicted of converting to Christianity and bringing others to faith in Christ.

DeMars added: "Pray also for pastor Behrouz Sadegh-Khandjani, who is being held in prison in Shiraz, Iran and has been given limited contact with his family and his attorney.

"It is reported that he is being held in the area of the prison that holds HIV and Hepatitis patients and that he is quite ill. He will not talk about it to those with whom he speaks, however, he barely has a voice. Please pray for them and ask God to deliver them from the hands of their enemies."

According to webblogs following the case, Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, responsible for one of the largest Protestant communities in Iran, "has been" sentenced to death for apostasy Saturday, October 2 by the 11th Chamber of The Assize Court of the province of Gilan.

This information was given to his lawyer Nasser Sarbaz. It was communicated to him verbally, news sources said.

Pastor Youcef was transferred after the verdict from Lakan prison to another place of detention, which is under the direction of the Political Police of The Islamic Republic.

Pastor Youcef was arrested in October 2009 for protesting against a decision of the Corporation to impose Koranic teaching to his son.

Iran adheres, at least officially, to the Charter of Human Rights and the Iranian Constitution recognizes the right to religious freedom and according to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad there is no thought crimes law in Iran.

There is a petition to the Iranian Government in several languageswww.petitiononline.com/IRANPET/petition.html  to have Youcef released.

The petition asks Iranian Presidemt Ahmadinejad to release Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, Fatemeh Pasandideh, Fatemeh Kojouri Tork ( the wife of Pastor Behrouz), Mehdi and Mina Kerbalayi and their mother, Nahid, Brother Afshin, Sister Mahsa, brother mid, Sister Nasrin, Pastor Behnam Irani, Pastor Behrouz Sadegh immediately, without charges.

Concerned believers are being asked to contact the German government and human rights associations to let them know about this problem.

Www.worthynews.com  reports Pastor Youcef faces execution after two judges agreed to make him "liable to capital punishment," as part of a crackdown on the growing Protestant church movement in the Islamic nation.

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani was detained in June along with wife Fatemeh Pasandideh in the city of Rasht in northwestern Iran because of their Christian activities, Iranian Christians said.

A senior pastor of the Church of Iran movement, which includes house churches across the country, told Worthy News that judges had "already signed" an Islamic order that would potentially allow a death sentence for Nadarkhani, pending further investigations. The pastor usually speaks on condition of anonymity amid security concerns.

News of the execution overshadowed joy over the release of two Church of Iran Christians, a man and a woman, and the expected release this week on bail of two other members, who the movement only identified as "brothers Mehdi and Afshin."

MORE DETENTIONS

Worthynews.com reports they were part of a group of eight Church of Iran members detained June 18, according to the senior pastor. One of them, a pastor's wife identified as Fatemeh Kojouri Tork, remained in Tehran's notorious Evin prison Tuesday, July 13, while her husband, Behrouz Sadegh Khanjani, was kept in isolation in a security prison in the southwestern city of Shiraz, the Christian leader said.

"We still do not hear from Reverend Behrouz Khanjani..." Iranian Christians have also expressed concerns about reports of other detentions, including last month's capture of Pastor Behnam Irani in the city of Karaj, 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) west of Tehran.

Several believers have allegedly been mistreated, sources said.

"We have learned that information that [security forces] have been using substances to extract confessions from Christians," the senior pastor said.

Iranian officials have not commented on the cases, the sources stated.

AUTHORITIES CONCERNED

Wortheynews.com also says religious rights groups have linked the crackdown to concern among authorities about growing churches and the spread of Christianity among Muslims in the country.

Church sources say the number of Christians in Iran has grown from 500 known believers in 1979 to at least 100,000 today.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has reportedly said the government needed to halt the growing movement of house churches across Iran.

Under Iran's strict interpretation of Islam, "apostasy" -- or the formal renunciation of religion -- is punishable by death.

One Christian persecution watchdog reports that over the last decade, the Iranian church has grown significantly and estimates now say the total number of Christians in Iran to be about 450,000.

The group said the government has intentionally sought to stop this growth and make it impossible for Christians to practice their religion.

Although churches connected to minority groups, such as Armenians and Assyrians, are allowed to teach their own people in their own language, it is forbidden to minister to people with a Muslim background (speaking Farsi).

Please pray:

1. Remember believers such as Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, Fatemeh Kojouri Tork, Behrouz Sadegh Khanjani and Pastor Behnam who are in prison because of their faith. Ask God to strengthen them physically, emotionally and spiritually, so that they will be a 'light in the darkness.'

2. Thank God that despite the horrendous circumstances for Christians in Iran and the opposition they face from the government, the church is growing.

3. Pray for the house church movement, which is responsible for much of the growth of the church. Ask God to protect its leaders and give them wisdom and understanding.

The death sentence imposed on Pastor Youcef is expected to be carried out by October 24.

Please feel free to forward this email to members of your church, friends and family.

Feminist Author Punished for Asking Muslims to Show 'Understanding' for Others... Texas author un-invited as convention Guest of Honor over remarks on Islam

By LOU ANTONELLILou Antonelli

Published: October 23, 2010

A best-selling Texas science fiction author has been un-invited as a Guest of Honor at a literary convention in the wake of controversial remarks she posted on her personal blog Sept. 11 on the subject of citizenship, assimilation and Islam.

Elizabeth Moon is a best-selling author who lives in Florence, a small town of approximately 1,000 people in Williamson County, 40 miles north of Austin. She said she received a phone call Wednesday evening from a representative of WisCon, the self-described “world's leading feminist science fiction convention” held in Wisconsinevery spring, stating her invitation as a Guest of Honor had been rescinded.

Moon’s comments in her Sept. 11 posting, specifically on assimilation and Islam, has generated a firestorm of controversy among the science fiction community of authors.

Moon said she felt her comments were centrist and really didn’t expect them to generate as such controversy as they did. “The polarization of American politics, world politics, for that matter,” she said, “decreases the opportunity for civil discourse. What we dare not mention - because of fear of backlash - and cannot discuss calmly, because of the actual backlash and the feeding frenzy, is often what most needs to be brought into the open.”

Addressing the issue of assimilation and the proposed mosque to be built in the vicinity of the former World Trade Center in New York City, Moon had written, in part, on Sept. 11, 2010:

“A group must grasp that if its non-immigrant members somewhere else are causing people a lot of grief (hijacking planes and cruise ships, blowing up embassies, etc.) it is going to have a harder row to hoe for awhile, and it would be prudent (another citizenly virtue) to a) speak out against such things without making excuses for them and b) otherwise avoid doing those things likely to cause offence.

“When an Islamic group decided to build a memorial center at/near the site of the 9/11 attack, they should have been able to predict that this would upset a lot of people. Not only were the attackers Islamic - and not only did the Islamic world in general show indecent glee about the attack, but this was only the last of many attacks on citizens and installations of this country which Islamic groups proudly claimed credit for.

“That some Muslims died in the attacks is immaterial - does not wipe out the long, long chain of Islamic hostility. It would have been one thing to have the Muslim victims' names placed with the others, and identified there as Muslims- but to use that site to proselytize for the religion that lies behind so many attacks on the innocent (I cannot forget the Jewish man in a wheelchair pushed over the side of the ship to drown, or Maj. Nadal's attack on soldiers at Fort Hood) was bound to raise a stink.”

“It is hard to believe that those making the application did not know that - did not anticipate it - and were not, in a way, probing to see if they could start a controversy. If they did not know, then they did not know enough about the culture into which they had moved.

“I know - I do not dispute - that many Muslims had nothing to do with the attacks, did not approve of them, would have stopped them if they could. I do not dispute that there are moderate, even liberal, Muslims, that many Muslims have all the virtues of civilized persons and are admirable in all those ways. But Muslims fail to recognize how much forbearance they've had.

“I feel that I personally (and many others) lean over backwards to put up with these things, to let Muslims believe stuff that unfits them for citizenship, on the grounds of their personal freedom. It would be helpful to have them understand what they're demanding of me and others - how much more they're asking than giving.

“It would be helpful for them to show more understanding of the responsibilities of citizenship in a non-Muslim country.”

Immediately after the convention’s decision was announced, Moon posted a short note on her blog: “WisCon management has the right to make whatever decisions they think best for the convention. I do not and did not dispute their right to rescind the invitation.”

A native Texan, Moon was born Susan Elizabeth Norris and grew up in McAllen. She earned a Bachelor's degree in History from Rice University in 1968. She later earned a second B.A. degree in Biology. In 1968, she joined the United States Marine Corps, attaining the rank of 1st Lieutenant while on active duty in the Vietnam Era.

She has published 21 novels, including “The Speed of Dark”, which won the top honor, the Nebula award, from the Science Fiction Writers of America, in 2003.

Moon said Friday that the revocation of the invitation to be Guest of Honor at the convention, to be held in Madison, Wisconsin, May 26-30, 2011, wasn’t a surprise. “Earlier contact with the convention committee suggested it was likely,” she said. “They were under a lot of pressure.”

The convention’s statement posted on its web site Thursday read simply that it “has withdrawn the invitation to Elizabeth Moon to attend WisCon 35 as guest of honor.”

Moon said her comments posted Sept 11 “weren't intended to be inflammatory, but there's the firestorm. Compared to others I'd run across - on the same subject - which struck me as being far to either end of a spectrum of opinion, I thought they were in the middle somewhere.”

Charges of retaliation flew this past week on blogs and web sites across the internet. Moon was philosophical on the subject. “The right to free speech does not include the right to have everyone like what you say...there is no Constitutional right to be agreed with, liked, or befriended.”

“Nobody likes being dumped on,” she continued. “I do care, and it does hurt. But you have to be able not to be intimidated.”

“I've had to deal with this kind of pressure repeatedly, during and after the Vietnam War, for instance, and have sometimes been dumped on by both sides of a position at the same time.”

Moon noted she grew up in the Rio Grande Valley in a diverse culture that included many different types of people, including recent refugees in the wake of the Second World War. “One thing we learned was that nobody was ever totally right, and expressing your opinion was not an attack on any specific group,” she said. “Just voicing your opinion was not perceived as an all-out attack on someone. You never saw things in just black and white.”

“One of the necessary skills of citizenship is developing the ability to hear and think about criticism while not being intimidated by it.”

Moon decried the polarized tone of public discourse in America today. “There seems to be very little space for centrism left,” she said. “Remember Jim Hightower's book with the long title about what's in the middle of the road? A yellow stripe and dead armadillos. My personal view is that we need to widen the middle of the road, because everyone needs a turn lane sometime.”

America’s political parties have fallen prey to the same polarization, she noted. Neither party has any centrsust left; years ago, “both parties had middles,” she said.

Responding to allegations that the convention’s action in dis-inviting might have a chilling effect on free speech, Moon agreed it might, “One, by intimidating or disgusting some who would otherwise have made useful contributions to a topic and thereby enriched the knowledge base. We lose the contributions of those who don't participate.”

“Second, by demonstrating the effectiveness of attacks in maintaining and directing power,” she continued. “This is a strong incentive for people who are willing to risk confrontation to use the same tactics that they see being effective. The answer to why bullies bully is that it worked for them. It's the same with verbal bullying as with physical bullying.”

Moon said she has no plans to attend the convention as a participant - I wouldn’t go where I’m not wanted” - and as for the fall-out from the controversy, it’s too soon to tell the long-term effects. “Some people have said they'll never buy my books again and will tell others not to buy them. Others have said because of this they'll buy my books and tell others to buy them. Time will tell.”

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