From the Pharyngula blog, we’ve got the U.N. passing another step towards an enforceable anti-blasphemy law, backed primarily by the the Organization of Islamic Countries.

It’s not just UN involved in the restriction of freedom of speech but attempts are made in Canada and in other democracies to suppress points of view in the name of ‘religious tolerance‘.

Here’s a quote from Christopher Hitchens (full clip below) in which he explains how restrictions on freedom of speech affect everyone in a society.

“It’s not just the right of the person who speaks to be heard. It is the right of everyone in audience to listen and to hear. And everytime you silence somebody you make yourself a prisoner of your own action because you deny yourself the right to hear something.”