New in PJ Media:
The freedom of speech is under attack everywhere, and it’s not clear which side Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Trump-endorsed candidate for a Senate seat from Pennsylvania, is on. We have the Disinformation Governance Board, the Jan. 6 Committee, ongoing claims that Trump supporters are all “white supremacists” (and “white supremacists” are the nation’s biggest terror threat), and rampaging social media censorship. In that environment, it’s crucial for all candidates, especially America-First candidates, to affirm their support for free speech. Instead, Oz has just called for his primary opponent to be barred from the race, not for any criminal activity or, say, dual citizenship in a hostile nation (Oz is a Turkish citizen), but for something she said in 2015.
Oz has already criticized his principal opponent, Kathy Barnette, for “Islamophobia,” a made-up word designed to inhibit criticism of jihad violence and Sharia oppression, and one that is in common usage among Leftists but rarer among patriots. On Saturday, however, Oz went even farther, charging that Barnette should actually be banned from running for the Senate, and presumably for anything else, because she doesn’t have a sufficiently positive view of Islam.
Oz’s demand raises some interesting questions. On the Left, criticizing Christianity is generally seen as “courageous,” even “heroic,” as can be seen in the enduring popularity of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, the late Christopher Hitchens, and the like. Criticizing Islam, on the other hand, is “hateful,” “bigoted,” and “racist” as far as Leftists are concerned. If Dawkins or Harris or some other critic of Christianity were to end up running for a Senate seat somewhere in the U.S., would Oz call for this candidate to be disqualified? Almost certainly not.
For criticizing Islam, however, Barnette has aroused Oz’s enduring ire. Apparently back in 2015 she tweeted “Pedophilia is a Cornerstone of Islam,” although she now claims that she “would never have said that.” That’s unfortunate, as she offered no explanation of how the remark appeared on her Twitter feed if she didn’t say it, and it demonstrates that she is allowing Oz to put her on the defensive and that she is unsure how to respond. She would be better off just owning the remark and defending it, as there is certainly ample justification in Islam for thinking this.
Turkey’s directorate of religious affairs (Diyanet) said in January 2018 that under Islamic law, girls as young as nine can marry. Ishaq Akintola, professor of Islamic Eschatology and Director of Muslim Rights Concern, Nigeria, said in 2016: “Islam has no age barrier in marriage and Muslims have no apology for those who refuse to accept this.” Dr. Abd Al-Hamid Al-‘Ubeidi, Iraqi expert on Islamic law, said in 2008: “There is no minimum marriage age for either men or women in Islamic law. The law in many countries permits girls to marry only from the age of 18. This is arbitrary legislation, not Islamic law.”
There is more. Read the rest here.
