Bloggers Win Legal Battle to Help Refugees from Islam

It is a time for rejoicing whenever we hear of a victory for religious freedom anywhere, but especially here in the U.S.

Such a victory was gained this week when attorney David Yerushalmi, a Sharia law expert, joined forces with Robert Muise of the Thomas More Law Center to defend the First Amendment rights of two Americans to purchase bus ads that offer help to refugees from Islam. According to the Law Center:

It was the first time help was publicly offered to people threatened under Islam’s death penalty for leaving Islam. The ads on Miami-Dade buses stated, “Fatwa on your head?  Is your family or community threatening you?  Leaving Islam?  Got questions?  Get Answers!”  

The ten ads, which covered the sides of buses in Miami, were removed within hours of a complaint by CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) that "the ads were 'offensive to Muslims'" and promoted "bigotry." The ads had been contracted from Miami-Dade County Transit Authority and paid for by compassionate, courageous patriot-bloggers Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer of the Freedom Defense Initiative and SIOA.

Quick action by the law offices changed minds at the Transit Authority, which quickly reinstituted the original ten ads and then threw in twenty more.

Richard Thompson, President of the Law Center, pointed out:

It’s a bitter irony that American blood is being shed in Iraq and Afghanistan to defend their Islamic Constitutions, while Islamic organizations right here in America are attempting to squelch the constitutional rights to Free Speech of American citizens.

That's not surprising in light of a statement by CAIR's co-founder, Omar Ahmad:

Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.

And CAIR's disregard for American freedoms is even less surprising considering that the U.S. Attorney General's Office and the FBI identified it "as a Muslim Brotherhood-Hamas front group."

Geller called the re-institution of the pulled ads "a major victory for the freedom of speech."

Freedom to offend the delicate sensibilities of Muslim terrorists is not that easy to come by these days. Witness the censorship of a South Park Episode 201 mentioning a certain supposedly forbidden name that, interestingly enough, is found frequently enough in news reports listing the names of terrorists.

As the Law Center pointed out: 

Americans have a right to know the truth. Islam is a religion of intolerance and violence. [emphasis TMLC]

If you mention that view out loud, though, you won't be allowed to speak at a National Day of Prayer event at the Pentagon. In which case, you will be in good company, such as that of Reverend Franklin Graham, son of Evangelist Billy Graham, the spiritual advisor of many U.S. Presidents. One of Franklin Graham's "offensive" statements:

When you look at what the religion does to women and women alone, it is just horrid. So I speak out for women, I speak out for people who live under Islam who are enslaved under Islam and want them to know that they can be free.

Religious freedom supporters wishing to make a financial contribution to the religious liberty bus ad campaign, which its founders hope to bring nationwide, can go to Geller's blog, Atlas Shrugs, and click on the "Contribute to Jihad Watch" button.

Cross-posted at Potluck.
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