Risky to Tell Truth about Islam in Canada

"First it was Franklin Graham. Now Windsor's Theological Institute and Campbell Baptist Church have joined the anti-Islam crusade. They are presenting a series of lectures under the general heading, "The deadly threat of Islam." The first one was entitled, "Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid: The Frightening Facts about Islam." The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) and other Muslim groups have called upon police to investigate whether a hate crime has been committed....

More than 120 people, including members of Windsor's Muslim community, packed the church last Thursday to hear Lebanese-born Anani - who is not a member of the congregation - say that Islam is a religion of war being brought to Canadian soil. He also said that Islam teaches "ambushing, seizing and slaying" of non-believers, especially Christians and Jews. Many attendees challenged Anani's views in a heated debate.

Canada does not give the same leeway to speech that the United States does. It bans hate speech. In this case, as with Graham, it appears that to make a case it would be necessary to show that the speech constituted an attack on Muslims, not just on the religion Islam. Pastor Donald McKay, the minister at Campbell Baptist Church, may have crossed the line.

Whether the remarks of those involved violate the law or not, they have been denounced by Member of Parliament Joe Comartin and by a Windsor City Counsellor, Ron Jones. Comartin called Pastor McKay's remarks "bigotry."

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