Coren on cartoons

Very interesting column here by Michael Coren where he basically says that those Muslims who are speaking out against the desecration of Mohamed deserve support from practicing Christians. It's not far to go from that point of view to the rioting we've seen around the world this week, but I think it's important to make the point that perhaps media needs to be a little more considerate when lampooning the divine.

I'm a (semi) practicing Catholic guy who believes in Jesus and sometimes feels like I need to apologize for it because the conventional wisdom in society is that an active belief in Him is either a) out of fashion, b) worthy of laughter or c) makes you some kind of Bible-thumping holy roller who wants to send women to the kitchen and homeschool all your kids. I'm sure there are a lot of Christians who feel the same way because it's been open season on God for a really long time. The Catholic faith has been the butt of jokes for even longer. Whether or not you think that's justified is not the point. To me, the point is showing a little respect for what people's beliefs are. To me, that means considered questioning and constructive criticism. It doesn't mean that you draw pictures of Jesus bathed in urine just to try and rub people's faces in it. Yes, the right to free discourse must be preserved - and I think that the cartoonist should have been able to draw whatever he wanted to - but if we are to advance dialogue, the value of respect must be part of that discourse. For that reason, I can see how some Muslims would think that the cartoons were a little over the top - not that that justifies the reaction, but I'm sure you take my point.

Click here for a look at the cartoons in question.

Coren:

One of the most troubling aspects of all this is the reaction of so many Christians. They seem to think that the battle between western values and Islamic sensitivities places observant Catholics and evangelicals on the side of the West.

Not so. The West is no longer Christendom but the heartland of secular humanism and fundamentalist atheism. This is the West that regularly insults Christ, mocks Christianity and increasingly takes away the rights of genuine Christians to practise their faith.

A publicly funded museum featuring a picture of Jesus soaked in urine. Another with the Virgin Mary covered in excrement. A Canadian cartoon last year depicting Pope Benedict, whose father almost lost his life to Hitler and his gang, making a Nazi salute to Mary, the Mother of Christ.

Jesus portrayed in a play as a homosexual who has a sexual relationship with one of his disciples. Cartoons showing the Pope smiling as women and babies are killed. Endless television shows spewing forth horrible caricatures of priests, ministers and devout Christians. On and on and on, and then the execrable Da Vinci Code.

We hear Muslims saying, "They wouldn't treat Jesus in this way." They're wrong, of course. Not because they are stupid but because they assume that a part of the world founded on the beauty of Christianity would not then be so disgustingly rude about Christ.

In other words, Muslims are as ignorant of the West and its intentions as are Christians who live here. Modern Western liberalism despises religion, and Islam and Christianity are equally in its sights.

In some ways it is shocking to see men, women and children outraged and taking to the streets to defend their religion against crude blasphemy. But in others ways it's refreshing and delightful. I say again that violence is wrong, but that muscular protest against hatred is not.

Sorry, I cannot and will not join the ranks of the smug God-haters who refuse to understand a person's love for their faith.

If you draw a cartoon that intends to offend, don't be surprised when it has the desired effect.