Coalition Launched to Defend Free Speech 

WASHINGTON DC (October 2, 2008) —  A coalition to defend free speech from the “intolerable” campaign to ban speech defamatory of religion was launched today in a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. 

Coalition to Defend Free Speech Honorary Chair Floyd Abrams said the coalition had come together to resist “the intolerable effort of one group of nations to determine what may be thought and said throughout the world.”  

The Coalition’s initial focus is the worldwide campaign by the Organization of the Islamic Conference the association of all 57 Moslem states to change international law to ban speech “defamatory of religion.” 

The coalition was organized by the American Jewish Congress and thus far includes Freedom House, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, The International Quranic Center, American Values, The Rutherford Institute, and Dr. Morton Halperin.   

In opening the press conference, American Jewish Congress President Richard S. Gordon said “The attempt to limit free expression and to criminalize a frank and candid discussion of religion, even if such views are opposed or even offensive to some, is anathema to all that we as Americans hold dear.  It will have a chilling effect on any discussion of religion and its relationship to governance, cultural and economic issues.” 

Coalition Co-Chair John Wohlstetter told the conference that “The values of free speech that form the moral, social, political and constitutional core of the West are being undermined” by a concerted effort on multiple fronts. 

The coalition is aware that those hurt by the growing limits on free expression are first and foremost the citizens of countries where these rights are already denied.  “The movement to limit speech that is deemed critical or ‘blasphemous’ to religions has been pushed most strongly by largely self-appointed governments of Muslim-majority countries,” said Paula Schriefer, the Director of Advocacy at Freedom House.  “Their citizens by far have been the most victimized by measures to restrict their speech and thought.” 

The OIC is proposing “nothing but a gussied-up blasphemy law,” said Kevin “Seamus” Hasson, Founder and President of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.  “Blasphemy laws ultimately hurt everyone and all believers because they implicitly empower governments to decide which religious truth is right or wrong.” 

The campaign to insulate Islam from criticism threatens internationally agreed upon “Efforts to condemn and to criminalize the ill-defined and vague concept of defamation of religion are a threat to the basic values protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” coalition member Dr. Morton Halperin said in a statement released at the press conference. 

The coalition will lobby the administration and Congress to oppose the OIC campaign, as well as nations that are members of those international institutions where the language banning free expression on religious matters will be accepted or rejected.

Click here to see the transcript of the press conference