The International Free Press Society (with which Andy McCarthy and I are associated) reports on an art exhibition at the county library at Ulefoss, Norway:
In a series of 12 graphic images the artist, Ahmed Mashhouri, picked out the most controversial quotes from the Quran.
“My aim is not to insult anybody and their faith. It’s to get a better understanding of the laws found in the Quran. These laws perhaps fit better in the old days, but today they just seem inhuman. I hope that my works will be a wake-up for my dear coreligionists,” he says.
Mashhouri and his wife worked for human rights in Iran. They sought asylum in Norway and now live in Skien…
Not many hours passed before there was a racket and two-three Muslim women attacked his images. Afterward he was contacted by the library and asked to remove the exhibition.
The images are now at the Porsgrunn library, for the moment. The exhibition is called “Det er ikke forbudt å tenke” — “It’s not forbidden to think.” Not yet, de jure, but de facto Europe’s getting mighty close.