Some things aren't funny.

I rate Jeremy Paxman as generally sensible, even handed and forceful but this evening he was uninformed when talking to a moderate young man who heads up the English Defence Alliance inferring his organisation was similar to the BNP. I believe at least the young man was voicing a common concern that English society has against a particular reading of the Koran. Where one reading is much like Christianity and sits well with the laws and norms of this country it can also be read as being aggressive and barbaric. That’s because the Koran is not just a religious document, it also contains a fifteen hundred year old social code as embodied in Sharia Law. Sharia law still sanctions stoning to death, honour killings, fatwas, the death sentence for blaspheming against Allah and anti feminine codes of conduct, which definitely do not sit well with the norms of this country. Our English social code of AD600 was probably similar but we no longer drown witches, cut people’s hand off for stealing or brutalise non-believers. Where we have moved on the Koran is unchangeable and still sacrosanct in its original form. When the young man said that the majority of Muslim clerics were trained in countries like Pakistan Jeremy failed to recognise the implication that they teach not only their religion but also this ancient social code. When the young man blamed the grooming of young girls for sex parties on men from Muslim countries Jeremy countered by saying ‘but white men do it too.’ Well yes but out of 56 reported cases 53 were by men from Pakistan and Asian countries and only 3 from the white community. When the young man made the distinction of accepting Muslims but being against the Koran Jeremy failed to see he accepted the religion but decried the social code as ludicrously outdated. Surely it’s not for nothing that Hindu India, Taoist China, Catholic Latin America are fast developing countries and the Christian west is developed whereas Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and other middle east, largely Muslim countries are in either poverty or turmoil.

My fear is that if we don’t listen to moderate voices of both English and Muslims now the more barbaric Islamic norms of Pakistan will be allowed validity and cause greater conflict in the future.