re: #366 spudly

The one thing that might mitigate his (totally un-American) statement, is that he’s not American. The Netherlands does not have a 1st Amendment as I understand it. Instead, they have “positive” rights given to selected religions.

So in Holland, if your religion gets the State nod, then you get State sponsored religious schools, for example. Islam has been approved I believe (there is some mention of this in Infidel by Hirsi Ali).

In that particular context, such a statement might be a domestic (to him at home) argument in favor of removing Islam’s protected, government-paid status.

Obviously within the US, abridgment of religious rights is unconstitutional, and flat out wrong. So as policy in the US, I clearly find his statements unamerican. For Holland… I’m not sure for the reasons above (giving him the benefit of the doubt for the moment based on my total ignorance of Dutch law).

It doesn’t matter. He has been spurting this stuff all around Europe, it’s not like what he said was a surprise, and the people who put on this event did so with the foreknowledge of Wilders point of views, positions and past statements.

That’s what’s wrong. There is no benefit of a doubt. It was all know before hand.