“Islamophobia”

When a British judge last week ruled that criticism of Islam counts as a “protected belief”, it seemed paradoxical: the Equality Act, long accused by the political Right of stifling free expression, was suddenly upholding it. For some, this appeared to confirm that the law is self-contradictory, a statute designed to protect minorities which is now defending the right to criticise religion. Yet perhaps the contradiction lies not in the Act itself, but in a society that has lost the moral compass to distinguish between the fair criticism of ideas and outright discrimination against people.

It is not intolerant to reject Mamdani’s implicit claim that non-Muslims cannot speak of Muslim wrongdoing.

In my mind today was a man who sometimes joined our family’s Friday night Shabbat meal. He was at that time Chancellor Jim Heft of the University of Dayton, a Marianist priest who has long since moved to LA following his calling. A man well read in theology and philosophy, he also earned my basketball-mad son’s esteem for his appreciation of the game, both as a good pick-up player and as a fan of the usually-excellent teams that UD put forward. My son also appreciated his edgy sense of humor, and my son, in his own gently ironic way, would always call him “Padre.”

A man shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ drove his car into a crowd on France’s Ile d’Oléron this morning. At least ten people on the popular holiday destination – situated off the Atlantic Coast – were injured, and three are in a critical condition. Police arrested the driver, a 35-year-old man with a history of petty crime. A search of his vehicle revealed some gas cylinders.

Among the injured is 22-year-old Emma Vallain, a parliamentary assistant to Pascal Markowsky, an MP in Marine Le Pen’s National Rally. A rising star in the party, she took part in a televised debate at the weekend about the current political deadlock in France.