London, Oct. 5 (ANI): A group of atheist students were thrown out of their fresher's fair in London because they displayed a pineapple labelled 'Mohammed' on their stall.
The Reading University's Atheist, Humanist and Secularist Society (RAHS) said they wanted to celebrate free speech and promote their upcoming debate 'Should we respect religion?'
But they were ordered to remove the offending fruit by union staff who said their actions were causing 'distress' to a number of Muslim students and other societies.
RAHS refused to remove the fruit, citing that they had labelled the pineapple after the Islamic prophet to 'encourage discussion about blasphemy, religion, and liberty'.
"We wanted to celebrate the fact that we live in a country in which free speech is protected and where it is lawful to call a pineapple by whatever name one chooses," the Daily Mail quoted a spokesman from RAHS, as saying.
They claimed the union then issued them with the ultimatum: "Either the pineapple goes or you do".
According to RAHS, a group of students surrounded their stall and removed the pineapple's name tag before the society was 'forced to leave the venue'. (ANI)
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Comments:
pixelbrine
October 6, 2012 at 1:25 PM
jamie pilgrim
October 6, 2012 at 8:45 AMI completely agree with free speech. However, I think this borders on being plain rude. Just because you don't believe in a God doesn't mean that you should show off how 'clever you are'
- it borders on contrarianism. After all, some people find genuine comfort in knowing that there is life after death or the very notion that there is something bigger than themselves. Being a vocal atheist is just as irritating as a vocal religious person. P.S. I have made my own mind up about religion and do not associate with any religion.
JoelB
October 5, 2012 at 11:04 PMLooks like free speech is dead in London.
Porky's2istan
October 5, 2012 at 8:59 PMThis is why the EDL is growing. When you can't have rational discussions about free speech or immigration, then all that leaves is rock throwing and hooliganism.
The muslims overreact to every little thing and we all bend over backwards to appease them. Every time the muslims are appeased and peaceful protesters are harassed, the message is, 'violence gets results, while peaceful protest gets you thrown out.' Don't be surprised if you find these student at the next EDL rally throwing trash cans through your windows, because they are barred from simple free speech.
Kim
October 5, 2012 at 7:19 PMMeanwhile, the "Jesus Pineapple" in the next booth over was highly praised and won an award....
"We wanted to celebrate the fact that we live in a country in which free speech is protected and where it is lawful to call a pineapple by whatever name one chooses"
Sorry, you don't live in that society any more.
kafir
October 5, 2012 at 7:13 PMUsing this same logical fallacy, the UK ought to deport anybody named Muhammad because their parents blasphemously named their son after their 'prophet' and might possibly incite others to violence.
kafir
October 5, 2012 at 7:01 PMThis is pathetic liberal accommodation of Islamic intolerance.
Don't assume this is liberal appeasement.....I would bet you anything that there were liberals promoting the Mohammad pineapple. Free speach is a cornerstone of liberal ideology. People don't fall into conservative or liberal camps as neatly as some people want to believe.