catapult magazine

I don’t know about you guys but I find that the carricature of Muhammad issue constantly pops up in casual conversations. Here’s an article by Christopher Hitchens some of you may find interesting. It’s an angry condemnation of Islamic fundamentalists and the cowardice of governments who bow to their barbaric ways. Or should we be nice to them? Reformed Christians haven’t historically allowed depictions of God either, but they don’t go burning embassies when they see one.

http://www.slate.com/id/2135499/nav/tap2/

Slate continues to run good pieces on this issue: The Ayatollah Joke Book.

Here is the article’s incisive conclusion:

A lively debate is going on about whether Islam really does forbid any portrayal of the prophet, however benign, or whether that is a recent innovation of some subset of the faithful with possible ulterior motives. This debate misses the point. Some Christians believe they are required to wear particular sorts of clothing. Some Jews and Muslims don’t eat pork. They don’t claim that their religion requires other people to wear special clothing or avoid eating pork. Tolerance and ecumenism can only do so much. They have nothing to offer a Muslim in Afghanistan who is personally insulted and enraged about an image that appears in a newspaper in Denmark.

The shameful American position on all this is boilerplate endorsement of free expression combined with denunciation of the cartoons as an "unacceptable" insult. When three protesters died this week in a confrontation at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, an American spokesman there said that Afghans "should judge us on what we’re doing here, not on what some cartoonist is doing somewhere else." But the limits of free expression cannot be set by the sensitivities of people who don’t believe in it. How can President Bush continue to ask young Americans to sacrifice their lives for freedom in the Muslim world, if he won’t even defend freedom verbally when forces from that world are suppressing it in our own?

Another point of view from the Slate series from the prospective of a western Muslim journalist, which highlights just how intractible the problem is:

Of course, the sad irony is that the Muslims who have resorted to violence in response to this offense are merely reaffirming the stereotypes advanced by the cartoons. Likewise, the Europeans who point to the Muslim reaction as proof that, in the words of the popular Dutch blogger Mike Tidmus, "Islam probably has no place in Europe," have reaffirmed the stereotype of Europeans as aggressively anti-Islamic. It is this common attitude among Europeans that has led to the marginalization of Muslim communities there, which in turn has fed the isolationism and destructive behavior of European Muslims, which has then reinforced European prejudices against Islam. It is a Gordian knot that has become almost impossible to untangle.

And that is why as a Muslim American I am enraged by the publication of these cartoons. Not because they offend my prophet or my religion, but because they fly in the face of the tireless efforts of so many civic and religious leaders?both Muslim and non-Muslim?to promote unity and assimilation rather than hatred and discord; because they play into the hands of those who preach extremism; because they are fodder for the clash-of-civilizations mentality that pits East against West. For all of that I blame Jyllands-Posten. We in the West want Muslim leaders to condemn the racial and religious prejudices that are so widespread in the Muslim world. Let us lead by example. http://www.slate.com/id/2135661/?nav/fo/

Neither the unyielding nature of European secularism nor Islamic extremism are really addressed by Aslan. Perhaps the only solution is in "the tireless efforts of so many civic and religious leaders?both Muslim and non-Muslim?to promote unity and assimilation rather than hatred and discord," at which I, and the evangelical church at large, have been rather poor.

If I am honest, I am afraid of this because I fear it is somehow incompatible with evangelism, a fear not without merit as some engaged in such do so at the expense of faithfulness to uphold and preach the offense of the Gospel. Nonetheless, I am going to be challenging myself, first, to simply interact more with Muslims, and then to try to do the hard work of living in tension of promoting unity and faithfully believing and proclaiming the Gospel of Christ.

I couldn’t help but notice this discussion and add my own 2 cents concerning it. I think the large difference here is the difference between religion and fundamentalism. The same difference between the person who believes in pro-life and the person who goes and blows up an abortion clinic and everyone inside. The same difference between a pastor and a cult leader. The same difference between teaching and brainwashing. There is nothing wrong with tolerance and acceptance of other religions. It’s when those religions are taken to the extremes that problems exist. I know many Muslims who are completely and utterly appalled by those who would harm others to get a distorted point across. Distortion and brainwashing are the keys to fundamentalism not the keys to faith and belief. I am a nondenominational Christian, I believe that there is One God, and that Jesus died to save us from our sins. However, I do not condemn others for their beliefs. Whether they be Muslim, Wiccans, Hindus, or any other relgious belief. The difference being that fundamentalists distort those religions into what they choose to make them. And that is what causes suicide bombers, and ambushes, and death. It is not because a person chooses Islam, it is if they choose the way of distorted belief in Islam. A fine line, maybe, but a line none the less. The same can be said for Christians. If someone chooses the way of Christian life and if they choose the way of say the Christian life as stated by the KKK it is two completely seperate beliefs. I can never and will never condone what the KKK is and does, however they are white christians as I am. It is the equivelent of a cult as is the fundamentalists of islam who blow people up and shoot at them on a daily basis. When I hear of a Muslim man beaten bloody simply because he is Muslim and the other is Christian I believe that God cringes. When a brainwashed Muslim blows up an American embassy in the name of God, I believe that God cringes. 200 years ago when a person who believed in the power of nature was hung from a tree, I believe that God cringed. So I don’t believe the discussion here should even be about religion. But about crimes committed in the name of God in cults that God , whatever religion you happen to be, would never condone. I know that I’ve possibly taken the discussion in a bit of a different direction but I believe it needed to be said.

Thanks,
Heidi C. Saunders

I appreciate your perspective, Heidi. Religion and its adherents can be differentiated. I disagree with you, however, when you say this discussion should not be about religion. Religion affects all of life, doesn’t it? At any rate this is a clear example of religion affecting life. These ugly incidents bring clarity. First, the rioters are clearly saying that Islam is the motivation for their crimes and their hatred. Second, more broadly speaking, Islam is a major factor in Middle Eastern hatred of the West.

There are several reasons I question whether we can say these rioters are small, insigificant group that don’t represent Islam, just like abortion-clinic bombers don’t represent Christianity. Firist, few significant Muslim figures have denounced the violence; they only denounce the cartoons. Had they been Christians, all sorts of major Christian figures would denounce the violence. Second, Muhammed’s legacy was not peaceful. Christ stopped Peter when he drew the sword; Muhammed picked the sword up himself and encouraged his followers to do the same.

I think there is hope for a more peaceful Islam. A realistic assessment of the situation, however, would seem to involve acknowledgement that right now Islam is a motivation for violence and hatred.

I do see your point. I believe that Islam is do for a change and that it will attain one. Just like Christians needed one so long ago. Think the Crusades. Muslim countries have forever been stuck in ancient times but will eventually join the rest of the world. Americans who practice Islam have already begun it. And eventually the rest of the world will follow. I still think it is a difference between religion and fundamentalism though. I just think in Islam there are more funadamentalists where in Christianity there aren’t. There is also a difference between free speech and hate speech. If a speech or words are meant to gather people up to do harm to others then it is no longer covered under freedom of speech. And there are a few more intricicies to go along with it. I had to take an entire class about the first amendment. (talk about a headache lol). Pretty much it depends on how something is worded or intended on whether it falls under free speech or under harrassment or disorderly conduct. It can be a real pain figuring it out though. At any rate I do think tolerance is very important. Without it, hate spreads, and there’s more violence. And I think we have plenty already.

~Heidi C. Saunders

Here are some cartoons about the cartoons. You will notice that cartoonists have a certain bias, and I assure you that their bias is not against cartoonists.

http://cartoonbox.slate.com/hottopic/?topicid=71&image=0