Right to free speech

Sir, Twenty-seven Muslim leaders write to you to demand the right, as Muslims, to criticise and denounce homosexuality (letter, Jan 14). As a believer in free speech, I agree. But do they equally agree to my right, as a homosexual and atheist, to criticise and denounce Islam? And if not, why not?

DR DAVID STARKEY

London N5

Sir, The Muslim community may have had its differences with the Jews, but obviously not enough to prohibit the borrowing of a very Jewish concept.

Chutzpah is the first word that comes to mind after reading a letter which declares that: “We cannot claim to be a truly free and open society while we are trying to silence dissenting views”, signed by a group of people, many of whom have spent the past two years trying to persuade the Government to pass the Religious Hatred Bill in order to silence dissenting views on Islam.