From the best light, I'll try and write about the Danish protest and how it is being taken to the extreme in both directions.
The cartoons were originally printed in September 2005 in Denmark. The newspaper printing them knew that they were offensive and were directly in violation of Islamic beliefs, but wanted to make a point about free speech. For the most part, the response to the comics was very mild. True, they were intended to jibe some islamic beliefs and reflected poorly on the founder of Islam (making his turban to be a bomb), and they were therefore reaction inducing.
Some leading Imams protested to the newspaper and government about the publication, but there was no significant uproar or apology (from what I've read). Less than a month after the cartoons came out in Denmark, they were reproduced in an Egyptian newspaper, to illustrate the disrespect the West has for islamic beliefs. People remark harshly about the cartoons being reproduced in Egypt, because as a predominantly muslim country, they should know better than to publish, yes, images of the founder, particularly in a negative light. So the newest rise in the media is actually about the hypocrisy of the Egyptian newspaper, and how there was little to no outcry against it being published there. Note: they were published as an illustration to how little the West respects islamic beliefs, NOT as a statement regarding the founder, or extremists. Still, this did not raise a great deal of agitation as we are seeing presently.
What HAS caused the present uproar is that the Imams travelled around to various muslim countries presenting evidence of disrespect shown for their founder and Islam in general. Added to the 12 cartoons were three VERY offensive cartoons that had "been sent to the Imams after they had protested the original publishing of the 12 cartoons". I believe the additional three comics are very much the cause for anger in the Muslim world and I do not think they were distinguished well from the original 12 (which were the ones re-published in Egypt). There are speculations that it has all been timed and staged, and I think this is half true. There DOES seem to be an over and abundance of Danish flags present for burning...
The West is certainly not free from fault. The cartoons were blatantly offensive (the original 12), and the independent newspaper knew such. The responses I've read and heard from people here, and on the internet have been extremely negative towards Muslims in general. Many very racial slurs have been made, hatred stoked, and in general much disrespect.
I have friends who grew up in countries where Islam is very strong. They themselves have read and studied the Koran, but do not call themselves Muslim, but rather Followers of Jesus. They know better than most Americans about what it means to be Muslim and have great respect for the Koran and the Islamic faith. I take their word that it is worthy of respect, and would urge you, dear reader, to be respectful even if you think it is wrong. In some ways the anger held against the West is justified simply because of the bigotry present here. Most muslims have respect for the Bible and consider it to be a holy book.
I have links and can provide them if you want backup for the eary portion of this post.
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5 comments:
As a starter here is an interesting German based website which covers the story well. In particular, scroll to the the portion which says "how it all began" (in red).
Second link is from a westernized egyptian. His blog is read by a lot of people, and more so now that he has put up the illustrations from the newspaper produced in Egypt. There is a strong bias on the site which you, dear reader, should be considerate of, but this is the 'proof' for the egyptian bit in my post.
I'd find it a lot easier to be sympathetic to Islam if it weren't for the fact that in many cases their responses were exactly as the cartoons characterized them: violent and extreme.
i realized this morning that respect is a hard thing to have for something that is wrong. "It's WRONG, how can I respect it?" Well, my answer is, respect the fact that other people believe it is RIGHT. Have some respect for the people and what they think.
In response to Phil, I do think that we are seeing the more antagonistic minority, as is so often the case. When people see Christianity from the 'outside' what do they see? Quite a lot of bad stuff. Hypocrisy, scams, scandals, political agendas, anger and bigotry. Not to mention the horrible lack of Unity within the Church. It can look like a very nasty group indeed, but we know it to be otherwise. The majority Christians do not look like the above, but they are what gets seen. I think it is a similar case with Muslims and Islam. Bad set of representatives.[why do i feel like i mispelled that word?]
If you go out and do street-evangelism in Europe, people tell you they can't believe because of all the harm the church has done...wars fought, violence, crusades, all by "christian fundamentalists". And we have a loving God. Muslims don't know God to be that loving...so how can we judge their violence as long as even christians haven't learnt to love?
Sorry, I just noticed I can post here, even without creating an account! :-)
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