Quoting Winston Churchill’s opinions on Islam contributed to a U.K. politician’s arrest — and possible imprisonment of up to two years.
Paul Weston, chairman of the party Liberty GB, was making a speech Saturday outside the Winchester Guildhall in Hampshire, when he quoting the famous prime minister, the Independent reported.
After a member of the public complained, Mr. Weston was subsequently arrested for religious harassment when he did not comply with officers’ orders to leave the area.
The text that contributed to Mr. Weston’s arrest came from Churchill’s book “The River of War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan,” written by the former prime minister in 1899 during his time as an Army officer in Sudan.
Mr. Weston read the following passage, among others, by Mr. Churchill, the Blaze reported:
“The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities – but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.