Read this article from Sam Harris' blog. Mavis and I were having a discussion about this very thing this morning.
My position was that the pastor and his little band of crackpots were not responsible for the recent savage murders in Afghanistan. Apparently, Sam Harris and I are in agreement.
The New York Times reported today that at least ten UN aid workers have been murdered by an Afghan mob. This senseless savagery occurred in Mazar-i-Sharif, “one of the most peaceful places in Afghanistan,” in response to news that a Florida pastor, Terry Jones, finally made good on his threat to burn a copy of the Koran.
Pastor Jones and the members of his tiny congregation in Gainesville appear to be religious crackpots of the first order, but anyone tempted to condemn them for provoking this violence has lost the plot. As I wrote previously in defense of the Dutch politician Geert Wilders (“Losing Our Spines to Save Our Necks”):
Wilders, like Westergaard and the other Danish cartoonists, has been widely vilified for “seeking to inflame” the Muslim community. Even if this had been his intention, this criticism represents an almost supernatural coincidence of moral blindness and political imprudence.
The point is not (and will never be) that some free person spoke, or wrote, or illustrated in such a manner as to inflame the Muslim community. The point is that only the Muslim community is combustible in this way. The controversy over Fitna, like all such controversies, renders one fact about our world especially salient: Muslims appear to be far more concerned about perceived slights to their religion than about the atrocities committed daily in its name. Our accommodation of this psychopathic skewing of priorities has, more and more, taken the form of craven and blinkered acquiescence.
There is an uncanny irony here that many have noticed. The position of the Muslim community in the face of all provocations seems to be: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn’t, we will kill you. Of course, the truth is often more nuanced, but this is about as nuanced as it ever gets: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn’t, we peaceful Muslims cannot be held responsible for what our less peaceful brothers and sisters do. When they burn your embassies or kidnap and slaughter your journalists, know that we will hold you primarily responsible and will spend the bulk of our energies criticizing you for “racism” and “Islamophobia.”
Will moderate Muslims defend Pastor Jones’s right to burn the Koran?
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Charlie, I so agree with you in general principle. I have Muslim friends, exceptions probably, who do condemn those killing others, though. Could it be that those people just don't have a voice? My point being there are good and bad in every segment of the world's population. I contend what is different about our "Christian" religion is that we live in a secular society where we fear having to take responsibility for some of our beliefs, like admitting we believe murdering a doctor is a good thing if it fits our view of the world. There could be consequences.
ReplyDeleteTwo common examples of our true nature:
# 1 When priests abuse(d) children (and a married guy, two kids, I went to the Baptist college with did also) the churches, one Catholic, one Baptist, did everything in their power to get around the law, trying to get the parents of these children to drop the charges, or worse yet, never bring them. I saw plenty of "forgiving" Baptists in the congregation on the side of the church leaders, even though the known consequences of sexual abuse can be a destroyed life or even suicide.
#2 How many Christians have I heard express the desire to "just drop a bomb and kill'em all." Unfortunately, it's been pretty common. Their answer to those 15 men on 9/11 is to kill all kinds of innocent children half a world away. What a way to murder people with no personal responsibility. What is more impersonal than a big bomb? I just cannot see how our forms of approving murder and theirs are that different. I just feel ours are more "advanced." I guess I believe they are all crazy and the thing that makes our christian population here appear less murderous is an illusion. We are just more sophisticated in our denial of our true nature and our ability to generalize things that should not be generalized.
Love having you back "up!" I have missed the voice!
CA gal
"Will moderate Muslims defend Pastor Jones’s right to burn the Koran?" Charlie, don't hold your breath. Fundamentalists operate under a different set of rules.
ReplyDeleteJim