So why is it acceptable to name one's child "Muhammed"?
Labels: Danish cartoons, Islam, Islamists, political cartoons, Sudan
posted by The WordSmith from Nantucket at 11/30/2007 12:02:00 PM
Friday, November 30, 2007
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8 Comments:
I am very concerned about that British woman who is in trouble for the Teddy Bear Fiasco in the Sudan.
She didnt even name the damn bear, it was the kids!
40 lashes or 15 days in jail?
Maybe we and the Brits and whoever else needs to be involved need to take a much closer look at what is really going on in those Countries over there.
And if we discover more oil there, well the better for us :-)
LOL :-) Exactly!!
What would happen if an Iranian Moslem, teaching in an American school attended by only Christians, nailed a teddy bear to a cross and hung it on the wall?
rockybutte,
You haven't posted here long enough for me to get a good sense of where you are on a host of issues; but I find your "moral equivalence" test a bit disturbing, because I just don't think it is being intelligently applied, here. And I don't consider you to be unintelligent and beyond critical thinking. I guess it would help if I knew where you were coming from, and what your whole thoughts are on Islam and religion; and more specifically, "radical" Islam.
To answer your question, which I think is a hypothetically flawed, assumptive, comparative analogy to begin with, the Iranian- regardless of religious affiliation- might be fired, and probably verbally denounced and berated. The fact that he is Muslim is irrelevant. MORE LIKELY, however, I can see Christians giving perplexed looks at one another with a puzzled, "okay....". As in, "whatever" and "who cares?" reaction. Seriously: A teddy bear nailed to a cross? Pfft. I wouldn't even raise an eyebrow, if I were Christian.
More serious and actually offensive is something like "Piss Christ", where a small crufix, in the name of art, was submerged in the artist's own urine. Now, were there Christians who took offense? You betcha. But did they call for the beheading of Andres Serrano and issue a fatwa calling for his death? No. Part of the outrage was over the fact this "art" was funded by taxpayer money through the National Endowment for the Arts.
Whatever the artist's intentions were, he has the freedom to express it. We have the freedom to not like it, and express our displeasure. But we aren't going to riot and kill over it.
That's the difference, and a big one at that between "us" and "them".
The other reason why I think your analogy is flawed, besides the differing reactions between Muslim outrage and Christian outrage, is the intent of your hypothetical Iranian Muslim and the intent behind the teacher in Sudan. Yours acted maliciously, the teacher in question did not.
From my wikipedia link:
Sister Wendy Beckett, an art critic, consecrated virgin and Catholic nun, voiced her approval of Piss Christ. She explained in a television interview with Bill Moyers that she regarded the work as a statement on "what we have done to Christ" - that is, the way contemporary society has come to regard Christ and the values he represents.
Well, that's one reaction from a Catholic. No murderous rage there.
Word:
Actually, I didn't suggest there was a moral equivalence. I just wondered what people would say.
I agree with much of your response, and admire your reasoning and passion.
I enjoy your site, but don't have enough time to post very often, especially since Vista has rendered our home computer useless. I check in on my work computer occasionally.
Have a good day.
Glad to know I had your actual views misconstrued, and you were just posing a question and challenge.
Thanks for the repeat visits and for being disagreeing without being disagreeable.
I am a Christian, Wordsmith, and so I can say if someone nailed a teddy bear to a cross and hung it on my church wall, I would simply say "poor teddy bear." I would definitely wonder who would do such a thing and be on the lookout for a Muslim in my congregation, but that would be for my personal safety's sake and that of our congregation. If the person responsible was found I would not be hollering for him or her to be beheaded. Actually, I would more than likely think it was a childish prank.
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