Three out of ten Norwegians believe that it should be allowed to burn religious symbols, while 49% are against it, according to a survey of Norwegians’ views on freedom of expression.
Divided by party affiliation, the majority of those completely or partially in favor vote for the Progress Party (FRP) (44.9%), the newspaper Aftenposten writes.
Institute for Social Research (Institutt for samfunnsforskning) has carried out the study on behalf of Fritt Ord. The book “Freedom of expression in a new public” describes the population’s attitudes to freedom of expression.
Most (60.8%) of the Labor Party’s (AP) voters do not think it should be allowed to burn religious symbols.
It also emerges that 43% of Norwegians fully or partially agree that supporting someone’s right to express themselves as racist is as bad as being a racist.
Different groups
People who emphasize the harmful potential of expression more often vote for parties on the left. They are more often women, the study shows.
A large group on the left believes that there should be plenty of room for expression and that this is the case in Norway today. Many of them voted for the Red Party and the Socialist Left Party (SV).
There is also a group that values freedom of expression but believes that the space for expression is too narrow. It is also more critical of traditional news media and votes more often for the FRP. Men between the ages of 30 and 59 are overrepresented in the group.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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It is naive to think the intent of such isn’t to incite sectarian anger and provoke violence – Disturbing the Peace.
Apparently, burning someone else’s holy books is still legal in America, but anyone trying to publicly burn a Christian Bible in the States is looking to be beaten up, very possibly with cops looking the other way.
I personally think holy book burning is a hate crime which should be banned. There has to be a responsible social and moral limit to any liberty/right. We do not have the freedom of expression “right” to murder someone who disagrees with us.
As to whether Islam is compatible with Western liberal values, that is another, open question I’ll leave to others to debate.
First of all, I would like to answer as a Muslim. I cannot say that freedom of thought is very true in Islamic countries. Much needs to be developed in this regard. However, burning it in the sacred values of a society or using it as an attempt to provoke is also not freedom of thought. In a global world where international relations are now important, every state must act in accordance with the new generation world order. States should take a decision by considering not only the interests of their own race, religion, nation, but also the interests of the whole world. The youth of the world give me hope in this regard. Young people, whether Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Jewish or of many other faiths, think more compassionately, respectfully, broadly, democratically and more worldly than the old generation. When done so, the world will be more beautiful and livable.