Free Republic

Click on this link to listen to the audio of Mark's acceptance speech for THE SAPPHO PRIZE 2010 in Copenhagen, with an introduction by Eva Agnete Selsing : http://snaphanen.dk/2010/09/13/steyn-in-scandinavia/

In 2002 a group of tourists from the United States visited the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing to hear a talk by a Chinese academic who prefers to remain anonymous. Speaking in the plural for unnamed fellow thinkers, he described their search for what accounted for the pre-eminence, the success of the West all over the world. Their studies ranged widely. Originally they thought the main reason was more powerful guns; then it was Western political systems, before considering the claims of the Western economic system. Finally, and I quote "in the past twenty years, we have realized...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California may soon take a stand against proposed changes to social studies textbooks ordered by the Texas school board, as a way to prevent them from being incorporated in California texts. Legislation by Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, seeks to protect the nation's largest public school population from the revised social studies curriculum approved in March by the Texas Board of Education. Critics say if the changes are incorporated into textbooks, they will be historically inaccurate and dismissive of the contributions of minorities. The Texas recommendations, which face a final vote by the Republican-dominated board on May...

Here’s what you get when the state hauls nobodies off to jail for quoting the Bible At the time of writing, I have no idea who’s won the British general election. At the time of reading, you probably have. But, whatever the result, I doubt it will make much difference to the fate of the United Kingdom, which is in the fast lane of the not-so-slow-burn bonfire of the liberties consuming much of the Western world. The official “defining moment” of the campaign was Gordon Brown’s unguarded post-photo-op dismissal of Gillian Duffy as a “bigoted woman.” Mrs. Duffy, a plain-spoken...

(April 27) -- Tim James is betting his election that Alabama voters prefer what he calls "common sense" to "political correctness." The Republican gubernatorial candidate is running a provocative ad arguing that Alabama's driver's license exam should be given only in English. "This is Alabama; we speak English," James says. "If you want to live here, learn it." The campaign spot has had more than 60,000 views on YouTube. The son of former Alabama Gov. Fob James promises to do away with the 12 foreign languages the test currently offers if he is elected in November. In the ad, James...

Attorney General Eric Holder has agreed to give a keynote speech later this month to a Michigan group which includes the local branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations even though the FBI has formally severed contacts with the controversial Muslim civil rights organization. On Nov. 19, Holder is scheduled to speak in Detroit to the first annual awards banquet of Advocates and Leaders for Police and Community Trust, a coalition of several dozen law enforcement and community groups. An online registration form for the event includes the Council on American Islamic Relations-Michigan on a list of “official & participating...

In the 19th century, Christopher Columbus was regarded as one of the most heroic and significant figures of his or any age. The "Admiral of the Ocean Seas" was celebrated throughout the Americas as a visionary who braved the unknown on a mission of discovery that created a New World. Our national capitol district was named in his honor because he opened the door to a new era of freedom that America represents.

What did the Christians cherish from the pagan traditions, and what did they change? How Christians elevated culture What did the Christians cherish from the pagan traditions, and what did they change? They raised the status of women. It's dogma in our public schools today that women in ancient times were oppressed, because women had no voting rights, women had not the same opportunities as men, and so forth. You will be mocked if you deny that this spells oppression. If you're a college professor and you deny it, get ready for the stake. But the charges are anachronistic and...

The West still has no idea what kind of trouble it's in. Singer Susan Boyle, our latest instant celebrity, reminds me of any number of singers I conducted in amateur renditions of the easier Schubert or Haydn masses, or the sort of matron who sings "Katti-Shaw" or "Buttercup" in the local Gilbert and Sullivan production. Musical talent springs up like grass, and engaging voices are a dollar a dozen. That Boyle has come to embody the triumph of ordinary people over obscurity, complete with invitations to appear on Oprah and Larry King, is disheartening. The popular audience in the West...

Let's pause right there: It's interesting how easily the words "the Muslim world" roll off the tongues of liberal secular progressives who'd choke on any equivalent reference to "the Christian world." When such hyperalert policemen of the perimeter between church and state endorse the former but not the latter, they're implicitly acknowledging that Islam is not merely a faith but a political project, too. There is an "Organization of the Islamic Conference," which is already the largest single voting bloc at the United Nations and is still adding new members. Imagine if someone proposed an "Organization of the Christian Conference"...

A much more insideous move is behind the Gay Rights movement than most of us dare to imagine. It is an attempt to stamp out Moses and the laws handed him by God. You talk about the Audacity of Hope! The leftists are going for the "whole enchilada" on this one.more...

Lights up Saturday, 11 April 2009 My valiant comrade Ezra Levant and I were on the air in Chicago last night with WGN's legendary Milt Rosenberg, discussing Ezra's book Shakedown, free speech, and the faintheartedness of the multicultural west for a full two hours. Milt was rightly concerned to put our trials in Canada in the broader context, and in tomorrow's Washington Post Jonathan Turley expands on that theme in a piece bluntly titled "The Free World Bars Free Speech": Ever since 2006, when Muslims worldwide rioted over newspaper cartoons picturing the prophet Muhammad, Western countries, too, have been prosecuting...

Is freedom of speech in America threatened by the political mobilization of Islam? People who warn about threats to free speech usually like to shout about them—perhaps to show that they themselves won't submit to threats. I don't think America will face any shortage of people ready to shout about Islam or the Middle East or homeland security any time soon. But there are certainly ominous trends stirring in the world. Not shadowy extremists but representatives of actual governments—nearly 60, in fact— have demanded that Western nations suppress speech that casts Islam in a bad light. UN human rights agencies...

Peter Pan Nation by: Malcolm A. Kline, December 11, 2007 If it seems that America’s establishment figures have been getting increasingly immature as the years go by, you are not imagining things. Gifted writer Diana West catalogues this trend to a fare-thee-well in her admirable book, The Death of the Grown-Up: How America’s Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization. “More than a syllabus is at stake; more than the ethnic makeup of college students is at issue; more than the feminization of the hard sciences is under consideration,” she writes. “Looking back, it becomes clear that there was a...

What could the USS Kitty Hawk and Citigroup possibly have in common? I'll start with the aircraft carrier because I'm still stewing over what happened when the People's Republic of China abruptly denied the USS Kitty Hawk and its accompanying ships and submarines their routine, scheduled Thanksgiving berth in Hong Kong, where hundreds of crew members' families had gathered (at considerable expense) to celebrate the holiday with their loved ones. First, there was the nasty act itself. News accounts speculated about the "reason" -- was it President Bush's recent meeting with the Dalai Lama? Our latest arms agreement with Taiwan?...

Donor Intent Endangered by: Malcolm A. Kline, November 06, 2007 Usually, when you donate to a charity you have some say in what happens to the donation, at least if you’re still around when the transfer payment takes place. “If ye’ be living when you’re giving, you be knowing where it’s going,” noted philanthropist John Templeton notably said. The problem of donor intent has become so acute in the charity world that it has spawned a cottage industry that focuses attention on it and, to some degree, has made charities more meticulous in adhering to their mission statements. Conversely, in...

A best-selling author and leading expert on Islam says that religion is well on its way to taking control of Europe -- and he's afraid that widespread violence may break out as a result. In his new book, Religion of Peace? Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn't, Robert Spencer, who is director of Jihad Watch, says that the war on terror is in fact a struggle against an Islamic jihad that would conquer and subjugate Western non-Muslims. He also asserts that Islam is well on its way to taking over Europe because the population has been silent for too long....

In the 17th century, when some Iranian mullahs were trying to limit freedom of expression, Mulla Sadra, the great mystical philosopher of Isfahan, insisted that all Muslims were perfectly capable of thinking for themselves and that any religiosity based on intellectual repression and inquisitorial coercion was "polluted". Mulla Sadra exerted a profound influence on generations of Iranians, but it is ironic that his most famous disciple was probably Ayatollah Khomeini, author of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie.

I was having an argument with a liberal friend the other day when I had an epiphany. You see, I almost don’t care what it costs and how long it takes to accomplish our mission in Iraq, because it is the central location of the war against the Islamic terrorists, and this war is to defend Christianity and Western Civilization against their destruction. The epiphany I had was when I realized that there was no point to our argument because my liberal friend DID NOT CARE IF CHRISTIANITY AND WESTERN CIVILIZATION WERE DESTROYED. He had no use for them.