Salman Rushdie title 'may spark attacks'

[wendigo100]

DaveB - The constitution may separate Church and State but politics puts them right back together again.

Q. How many muslims, hindu's, bhudists etc. hold possitions of political power in the US?

Q. How many muslims, hindu's, bhudists etc. hold positions of power in the government employment sector of the US.

They are US citizens too!

Yes, they need a Ken Livingstone to make sure that minorities are fully represented. Probably.

[Rantor]

The French implementation of the same model is almost certainly better, by which I mean the widespread acceptance that the state should be secular.

Turkey? They've even got the army ready to keep things secularised. Interesting to see which one the west will support - democracy that may lead to an islamic state or secular authoritarianism.

[lexington_spurs]

All starting to drift a little off topic, so a brief recap posted on behalf of FD who must be busy at the moment. There are many reasons to knight Salman Rushdie, but the most significant are:

- he is a spurs fan
- despite almost insurmountable odds, he is boshing global-class totty.

Arise Sir Salman.

[Geek_Bird]

You are quite right. Here in France, the notion of separation between religion and state is very strong. We do not recognize the British notion of political correctness which seems, in many parts of Europe, to paralyse politicians from making the pragmatic decisions that need to be made.

Yet there is here a recognised clear line drawn between religion and state that sometimes confuses rational debate with outright racism. You may remember Sarkozy crossed that line with his infamous "scum" pronounciation during the riots in 2005.

France, like Britain, has it's own colonial past to deal with (Congo, Lebanon, Vietnam etc) but despite the mistakes, the sense of nationahod remains and many enlightended here would not tolerate any one justifying violence in the name of religion, historical victimisation or anything else despite the mistakes made in the past.

Christopher Hitchens doesn't seem to have succombed to political correctness. His book "God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" makes for interesting reading.

[Mailman]

The French implementation of the same model is almost certainly better, by which I mean the widespread acceptance that the state should be secular.

I disagree, of course

The french model is based on state first, everything else second. However that didnt stop all them peace loving muslims rioting last year did it?

At the same time there have been no similar religious riots in America, heck you dont even see american muslims rising up against the great satan or hear of Trevor Brooks type people calling for the destruction of their country...probably because the peace loving muslims in America have actually brought in to the fact that its better to live next to apple pie and MacDonalds than having to live under sharia law.

Mailman

[Mailman]

Turkey? They've even got the army ready to keep things secularised. Interesting to see which one the west will support - democracy that may lead to an islamic state or secular authoritarianism.

Funny place Turkey. Even though its almost impossible to build a christian chirch they are still staunchly in favour of a split between state and religion.

Mailman

[Burdock]

Has anyone read any Salman Rushdie?

If so, which title(s)?

[gingerjedi]

Of course he deserves a knighthood. Beefy Botham never wrote books as good as him and he got one, so why not!

And another thing. I notice Pakistan never threatened to blow up Sir Beefy for his knighthood after he said Pakistan was only fit for sending your mother-in-law to! Yet again, one rule for one, another rule for the other from the maniac muslims.

If his nickname was 'Porky' they would have done.

[sasguru]

Has anyone read any Salman Rushdie?

If so, which title(s)?

I've tried but find him unreadable. Magical realism ain't my cup o'char.

[thunderlizard]

I've only read one of his books - Midnight's Children. It's very good indeed. And the narrative is so jumpy that it's nigh on impossible to find specific bits if you want to refresh your memory.