Page 3 beauties from The Ramalama Ding-Dong Times

[sasguru]

That crap does not work anymore.

I do not see anyone knocking Sikhs or Hundus or Rastifarians so this is clearly not a racist issue. Islam is not a race.

I do not see anyone bashing daft creeds like Spiritualism or Jehovah's witnesses or Scientology because nobody cares what people choose to believe if their belief is a private one or if they only seek to spread their views by persuasion.

Islam is not just a religion but a major political force, like communism, that seeks to impose its ideas on others, as it does in some 50 plus states throughout the world. Since Islamic states by definition base laws on Islam, others necessarily have fewer rights in determining the direction of society. With exception of a few black African states most of them impose significant limits, in the name of the faith, on those of other persuasions. In a few states like Iran and Saudi Arabia the restrictions on other faiths are major and even in so-called moderate states like Egypt or Pakistan those Muslims deemed to be heretic are persecuted. While it is ok for Islam to convert others, it is a criminal offence in many states for others to convert Muslims and even in Europe Muslims who leave the faith often find themselves abused.

I am not suggesting that many ordinary Muslims are not perfectly decent and tolerant sorts and many in the more extreme states would actually love more freedom, but the creed itself, like communism, is malign and unlike communism does not have a shred of rationality to justify it.

As with communism, we have every right in a free society to oppose it.

I agree with all you say but in this war for rationality it does no favours to be extreme. Ordinary Muslims, as you call them, are assailed from the extremist lot to reject moderate values in favour of extremism. From what I read in the link above, the piss-taking went into the realms of offensiveness and bad taste. And usually I am very robust about the right for intelligent debunking of Islam. This is just the sort of low-level crap stuff that doesn't help issues. The idiots who had this idea should be ashamed of themselves.

PS Communism has no shred of rationality to justify it either, since it totally ignores what we know of human nature.

[GreenerGrass]

Agree with Xoggoth's analysis.

SASguru has a point with the extremists using something like this as ammunition to persuade moderate Muslims they are being "victimised", however to brand the carnival goers as "idiots" who should be "ashamed", because they are having a bit of fun at a carnival rather than arguing on Question Time is a bit unfair.
These are just working blokes having a laugh in what's left of a free society, not members of a University debating society or right-on comedians concerned with a maintaining a carefully honed TV image who have a clear idea of what they can and can't get away with.
Presumably the cast of Monty Python should be ashamed of Life of Brian for the same reasons. That caused a few pissed off members of clergy, but I don't think any effigies got burned.

It concerns me the same liberal-minded students who would try and waste the police's time here, bury their heads in the sand when colleges are taken over by Islamists recruiting for their fundamentalist political organisations, committed to overthrowing democracy. They are no better than neo-nazi organisations, in fact they are far more dangerous.
And they ultimately view the liberal minded appeasers and vicars with even more contempt than people dressing up in niqabs at a carnival.
These liberals are "weak but useful idiots", for now.