It's a crisis that is complicating Sweden's efforts to win Turkey's support for its accession to NATO. It is undermining Sweden's relations with other nations. But it's not a crisis born of any government action or foreign policy choice. Instead, this crisis flows from the inability of foreign…
It's a crisis that is complicating Sweden's efforts to win Turkey's support for its accession to NATO. It is undermining Sweden's relations with other nations. But it's not a crisis born of any government action or foreign policy choice. Instead, this crisis flows from the inability of foreign governments to understand that free speech means allowing idiots to be idiots.
In response to these incidents, Iraq has expelled the Swedish ambassador and recalled its own ambassador. Numerous other Islamic nations have reacted with outrage, calling for Sweden to ban further Quran burnings. Iran has even called for those involved to be put to death. Sweden's prime minister has said he is"extremely concerned," with his security service warning that the situation is increasing the terrorism threat level against Sweden.
That matters here because religion obviously bears political ramifications, especially in the Islamic world. More broadly, religion is a matter of civic interest and relevance, and, for some, deep concern. The destruction of religious books thus deserves the highest protection, not the least protection. This is what sets democracies apart from nations, most notably China, which view freedom as something to be subdued beneath an autocratic heel.
While Sweden is now considering legislation to prevent further religious text burnings, Americans should be grateful that we have the First Amendment to prevent any similar action here.As Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts underlined in the 2011 case of Snyder v. Phelps,"Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and — as it did here — inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker.
That's a legal lesson, unequivocal in its hard moral necessity, that other nations would do well to replicate.
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