Firstly, I think you should take the time to read my posts before this. Im ssuggesting to channel our anger ina peaceful way. By using articles etc.
Secondly, havn't you been on this forum long enough to see the respect and love all muslims hold for the prophet Muhammed p.b.u.h?? I won't say 'our' prophet because he was sent with a message for 'mankind'. That includes you.
Those cartoons are simple straightforward disrespect for Muslims and Islam. Have muslims EVER done the same about other religions?? And if they have, do all muslims back them up?????
Well what you said is second I will take first.
First, the length of time I have or have not been on this forum is irrelevant to whether I have enough background to see the respect and love all Muslims hold for the prophet Muhammad. My daughter is Muslim. I think I have an idea.
I've come here asking questions. I've asked them before, and as yet have not found the answers very helpful by way of promoting understanding. Maybe it is something you can't communicate to others. Or maybe it is something you don't care to take the time to actually deal with someone who comes seeking to understand. May you just want to live in that rage you spoke of. I guess that's your choice. But I find it a sad one that the first thing (correction, second) you choose to do with someone who is seeking to understand is to disrespect them, at the same time you are demanding respect for your prophet. Do you even get the irony?
As to your closing questions, "Have muslims EVER done the same about other religions??" Quite simply, Yes. Not all Muslims. But some have.
"And if they have, do all muslims back them up?" Again, not all Muslims. But some have.
I think you will note that not all non-Muslims have backed up the cartoonists depiction. Not all papers have published it. I can understand how it is offensive. I'm not Muslim and I resent that portrayal of Islam as violent at its core, which is what those pictures were really about -- not demeaning Muhammad, but all Muslims in one broad swoop. What I don't understand is why it should incite violence? Doesn't acting violently in response, just make the cartoonist's point?
I am glad that you are suggesting the anger be channelled in peaceful ways. I am glad to see that you are not alone, and that this actually is the majority response. But what of the response of taybe smiler above? What of those who find in a drawing justification for murder and even war? This seems to be a disproportional response. And far too many who are themselves not involved in the violence are giving encouragement to those who are with comments like "We must fight these people by our arms if we can't by our tongues..." Yes, I recognize its source, that too is part of the problem.
When the people of my church ask me questions about Islam, why this? or why that? I ask them to try to think not from their own perspective, but from that of those they are asking about. They understand the natural anger because they remember when photographer Andres Serrano exhibited a picture entitled "Piss Christ" -- it depicted a small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist's urine. But what they don't understand is the way that anger is experssed.
Woodrow makes sense:
Sadly we allow ourselves to become angered over the sins of others. It is fine to hate the sins, but it is wrong to react to them in a manner that is just as bad or even worse.
The goal of the cartoons seems to be one of showing the world that Muslims are immature, ignorant and prone to emotional outbursts. Our reaction often solidifies this belief. As a result we give the impression that Islam is backwards, oppressive and dangerous.This is the image we are promoting, not an image of strength or one of reason. Our behavior seems to be our worse enemy.
So, as I ask the members of my church to think like a Muslim in order to understand where the anger comes from over what they see as simply a political cartoon, I also ask the Muslim world to think like a western newspaper. I doubt if the Danish have a motive of trying to stir up the Muslim world just to make Islam look bad in order to accomplish some other end. (Though I don't put it past George Bush do something like that, but that would be another story altogether.) So, what might their reasoning be?
Well the article itself gives some clues:
- The move came one day after Danish authorities arrested three people allegedly plotting a "terror-related assassination" of Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist behind the drawing.
- And the newspaper they were printed in is on record saying, "We are doing this to document what is at stake in this case, and to unambiguously back and support the freedom of speech that we as a newspaper always will defend,"
I think it makes some sense to take them at their word. It is part of a news story because of the arrest, and the paper reprints the pictures as a way or reporting on (by way of reminder) what was at issue originally. Hopefully, people (non-Muslims that is) can look at the pictures with fresh eyes. For his part, the artist claims that he did not do it to insult the Prophet, but "that he wanted his cartoon to say that some people exploited the prophet to legitimize terror." Surely you can recognize that some people have indeed done this, they have tried to make Islam into something different than it truly is. Now, they didn't convey that message to the average Muslim. How much better would the world have been if instead of showing rage, the Muslim world had protested, but done so peacefully. It would have been a great lesson to all those who are of the opinion that Islam is a nothing but a religion of violence. And it certainly would have done wonders for teaching others to view the world from a perspective other than just their own point of view. But no, while certainly not every Muslims respond violently, so many gave did that it became worldwide news.
Now, you have before you a second opportunity to respond, to either have a conversation or to have a riot. I will wait to see if it is the wisdom of folks like Woodrow that we see this time, or if once again it is the hot-headedness of the taybe smilers that become the face of Islam.
In the mean time, I pray for peace. And, yes, I also pray for respect and understanding.
