Islamic censorship in North America

Today was another sad day for western civilization as Islam drove yet another nail in its coffin.

Random House publishing company has announced that it has pulled the plug on a debut novel by author, Sherry Jones, called The Jewel of Medina. It was a novel celebrating, Aisha, one of the most famous and controversial of Mohammed’s wives. The publisher feared it would be another Satanic Verses and endanger the author, the employees, book sellers and anyone involved in the distribution of the book. This decision was made without any overt threats to the company.

"I'm devastated," Jones told the Wall Street Journal after being told that her book would not be published. "I wanted to honour Aisha and all the wives of Muhammad by giving voice to them, remarkable women whose crucial roles in the shaping of Islam have so often been ignored — silenced — by historians."

I have no issue with the concept of corporate responsibility that drove the company’s decision-making.

However, I do question the longevity of a society that crumbles in the face of religious fanaticism. How do we protect ourselves from it so that responsible publishing firms like Random House are free to publish what they think is worth reading? Why should I be denied the right to this book because of religious nutbars?

We need to find an answer to this problem and we need to do it sooner rather than later.