Mirror.co.uk 18 September 2006
WE SHOULD ALL PUT PEACE BEFORE FAITH Tony Parsons WHEN I was a lad and the Vietnam War was the cause of widespread anti-Americanism, you'd often see Canadians sporting red maple leafs on their rucksacks to avoid being mistaken for Yanks. More recently, Sikhs and Hindus who do not wish to be the victims of Osama-under-the-bed paranoia have been seen wearing T-shirts that proclaim: "Don't Panic, I'm Not Islamic," and, "Don't Freak, I'm A Sikh." Now that the Pope is the burning effigy of the week in the Muslim world, I am tempted to get a car sticker that says: "Don't Blame Me, I'm C of E." I think the Pope's remarks about the prophet Mohammed were ill-advised, clumsy and offensive (mind you, I also think that Christian churches being attacked in retaliation is offensive, but let that pass for a moment). In his blundering way, the Pope was attempting to make the reasonable point that there can be no place for violence in religion. He quoted a 14th-century Christian emperor who said Mohammed brought "things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached". Crucially, and stupidly, the Pope did not distance himself from the quote. So the thoughts of a figure so obscure that, if he had not died 600 years ago he could be a guest on Love Island came out as more or less the Pope's own. Cue burning effigies, assaults on Christian churches in Palestine and Iraq, screaming mobs shaking their fists and much chanting of "Death to America, death to Israel", even though there are very few Catholics in Israel. The Pope apologised, and made another sincere apology yesterday and he will no doubt apologise again. It will never be enough. His Holiness was right - those who love their god should not also love violence. But he was barmy to start dissing Mohammed, especially when he is about to do a tour of Turkey, especially at a moment in history when we need to be building bridges between religions, not firebombing them. Benedict XVI made his point so incredibly badly that the Muslim world has erupted yet again into hysterical violence, ironically this time because it objects to being called, er, violent. The sad upshot of this controversy will be more anti-Muslim sentiment in the world. I have lost count of the number of people who have said to me that Muslims are "too touchy". Sometimes I wonder how many people in this country actually know any Muslims. The Muslims of my acquaintance are no touchier than anyone else. The Muslims I know are decent, humorous, lovely people. But right now they are getting a truly rotten press, and in all honesty it is not hard to see why. The Islamic world seems remarkably quick to get out in the streets and burn things and scream death threats and promise destruction. Are they touchier than the rest of us? Yes, when it comes to respect for their faith. Yesterday the Pope called for a "frank and sincere dialogue" between religions. That is surely impossible when Muslims are so quick off the mark to take offence. Here is the great divide between our communities. In our formally Christian but now largely secular society, you can mock the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost until the sacred cows come home. With Islam, you do not have the same freedom of speech. Salman Rushdie, Danish cartoonists and now the Pope have all acted as though Islam can be treated with the same casual disregard as every other religion. They have all discovered that not to be the case. Some Muslims encourage prejudice against them. It is hardly the most pleasant sight in the world when you see some screaming, bearded loon in Pakistan or Palestine or Iraq or Iran or Egypt foaming at the mouth while he burns a book, a flag, a cartoon or an effigy. Calm down, calm down. But the Islamic world comes across as fanatical, intolerant and bug-eyed simply because they place their faith above everything. We either start accepting and respecting that or the rift between us will grow ever wider and ever deeper. The Pope should have kept his mouth shut or expressed himself more clearly. Equally, the leaders of the Muslim community should wise up to the fact that the West is getting tired of Muslim mobs howling death threats. For every time it happens, it reinforces the stereotype of the mouth-foaming, fist-shaking, west-loathing Islamic fanatic. In his ham-fisted way, the Pope tried to make a self-evidently true point - religion should not be used to justify violence. Frankly I am sick of religious nutters killing people to gain brownie points in paradise. We have had 2,000 years of it now. But as it almost says on my car - hey, don't kill me, I'm only C of E! [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ======================= Milis Wanita Muslimah Membangun citra wanita muslimah dalam diri, keluarga, maupun masyarakat. Situs Web: http://www.wanita-muslimah.com ARSIP DISKUSI : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wanita-muslimah/messages Kirim Posting mailto:wanita-muslimah@yahoogroups.com Berhenti mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Milis Keluarga Sejahtera mailto:keluarga-sejahtera@yahoogroups.com Milis Anak Muda Islam mailto:majelismuda@yahoogroups.com This mailing list has a special spell casted to reject any attachment .... Yahoo! 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