Incitement in the Mosques: Testing the Limits of Free Speech and Religious Liberty

Authors

Kenneth Lasson, University of Baltimore School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 2005

Abstract

In times of terror and tension, civil liberties are at their greatest peril. Nowadays, no individual rights are more in jeopardy than the freedoms of speech and religion. This is true particularly for followers of Islam, whose leaders have become increasingly radical in both their preaching and practice. "Kill the Jews!" and "Kill the Americans!" are chants heard regularly in many Middle Eastern mosques, as frightful echoes of the fatwa are issued by today's quintessential terrorist, Osama bin Laden. The incitement continues unabated to this day. In April of 2004, for example, a Muslim preacher at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem referred to Jews as "sons of monkeys and pigs," and as "murderers of prophets." Loudspeakers boomed across the Old City with his message, in which he condemned Jews to total extinction.

Recommended Citation

Incitement in the Mosques: Testing the Limits of Free Speech and Religious Liberty, 27 Whittier L. Rev. 3 (2005)