This might be of interest, to some:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/saturdayextra/stories/2009/2496121.htm

Dear Steven,

I was never quite game to admit that I found
"Satanic Verses," tedious, to say the least.
I was not that impressed by Rushdie - and
although I did read, "Midnight's Children,"
I preferred Vikram Seth's, "A Suitable Boy."

I can also recommend Sarah Macdonald's "Holy Cow."

You ask, "Did 1989 mark the beginning of the
end of enlightenment?"

Probably, at least in the UK.

BBC correspondent Lawrence Pollard appears to agree.

Pollard said, "It was the catalyst for the emergence
of a stronger sense of Muslim identity in Britain..."
Pollard infers that Rushdie gave them an issue around
which to rally - which was a defining moment for
British Society both for race relations and freedom
of speech.

As Pollard tells us, "Until that time there had been
assumed support for the broad principle of free
speech, the Rushdie affair introduced the question of
how far free expression should be limited to avoid
offending religious feelings in a multi-cultural
society."

I believe that Rushdie has published a book about the
experience.("From fatwa to jihad," ?).

My question is - 20 years later, is the original
fatwa still valid?

its clear that the reason for posting is to reignite the debait on satanic verses...so i will bite

i feel israel had a hand in the matter..to set up the unreasonablness of the response...it is noticable that britan/usa were beginning to get too close to iran...at the same time the bok was published...thus the mossad operation was set in train to get the insulting book written...clearly helping the overreaction..get the negative public exposure intended...by those needing to ridicule islamic/ goys

clearly prostitutes..with the names of the prophets wives would get the reaction it was designed to get....

i look foward to the day that homosexuals write about abraham/mosus/noah/adam et all..or maybe their wives as prostitutes [ie the mainstays of the israel texts]...then we will really see a reaction...[right]...how feels it with the boot back on the other foot

i wonder what was going down at the same time in israel...wasnt that about the time israelk tried to assasinate busche seniour?

but i note the timming of your post..[having just watched the abc expose of the day by day reaction to the aptly named satanic verses

...timming is everthing..im noting your timing...lol...just perfect..

[just as your rehashing the issue now..a few weeks before the planed sneak attack by israel..on iran..being the true/reason for its being raised here..is now a done deal...

creating another/next distraction..to rehash the negativity previous...to the next israelie/sneak attack...well done steven you do israel proud...lol

Call me weird but I have always felt the beginning of the end started when they first showed the X files. Since then people have become more superstitious, more inclined to believe, more rabid about their faith and way way more gullible.

PERICLES,

I can name at least one man who counts himself as a liberal who has defended David Irving's right to speak his mind in Australia, Canada or anywhere else. His name is Steven Meyer.

I have also defended the right of Australian Holocaust denier Frederick Toben to continue, well, denying the Holocaust.

I was aware of what Sacranie said. Whether the full quote indicates Sacranie was feeling sorry for Rushdie is, I daresay, subject to interpretation.

CJ MORGAN,

I've recorded the Compass program and will watch it tonight.

OUG

I'm not going to bother to respond to your increasingly bizarre conspiracy theories.

FOXY

To the best of my knowledge the position of the Iranians is that the fatwa cannot be rescinded but is in abeyance. I shall know more after I have watched the Compass program.

Personally, I seem to recall finding the 'verses' quite funny, and believable -in a 'Yes Minister' kind of way.
I would like to think the Rushdie affair was more like the beginning of Enlightenment; when people slowly started questioning the right of established religions to NOT be questioned.
Also, I see absolutely no reason to intimate that all Atheists and Agnostics are 'left'.