Vilifying religion, Italian style

Jon sent along a link to this article on Oriana Fallaci:

Oriana Fallaci faces jail. In her mid-70s, stricken with a cancer that, for the moment, permits only the consumption of liquids — so yes, we drank champagne in the course of a three-hour interview — one of the most renowned journalists of the modern era has been indicted by a judge in her native Italy under provisions of the Italian Penal Code which proscribe the "vilipendio," or "vilification," of "any religion admitted by the state."

In her case, the religion deemed vilified is Islam, and the vilification was perpetrated, apparently, in a book she wrote last year — and which has sold many more than a million copies all over Europe — called The Force of Reason. Its astringent thesis is that the Old Continent is on the verge of becoming a dominion of Islam, and that the people of the West have surrendered themselves fecklessly to the "sons of Allah." So in a nutshell, Oriana Fallaci faces up to two years' imprisonment for her beliefs — which is one reason why she has chosen to stay put in New York. Let us give thanks for the First Amendment.

And yet another example of why "hate crime" laws are antithetical to free speech. I have not read Fallaci's book, so I can't say whether she does "vilify" Islam, but I think it is a fair bet that what she may have written about Islam and the growing Islamic population of Europe is only a pale reflection of the anti-Christian, anti-democratic, and anti-European writings that do not attract the attention of the courts.

Some breaches of "hate" legislation are more acceptable than others, especially in this case.

Update: Jon found a longer piece, which examines some of the claims against Fallaci's book.