Christianists and Islamists

A reader writes:

"Remember the ridiculousness after John Lennon mentioned how The Beatles were a bit more popular than Jesus Christ? They held vinyl bonfires, burned Beatle memorabilia, and generally acted the way religious idiots do when ‘offended’."

The fundamental issue is, of course, the compatibility of religion with liberalism. This is a profound one, and liberalism (I mean it in the classical sense) has succeeded, in large part, in taming religious conviction in the West, in privatizing it sufficiently, for democratic pluralism to work. What unreconstructed Islam represents – in its interpenetration with the West – is a delayed response of fundamentalist faith to liberal democracy. True fundamentalism is incompatible with liberal democracy. And that’s why, although at the moment the Christianists are nowhere near as intolerant or as violent as the Islamists, we have to be vigilant at home as well. I will simply note a recent comment by a fundamentalist about the casting of a gay actor in a Christian movie:

"[I]t would probably be an overreaction to firebomb these men’s houses. But what they have done is no mistake. It is a calculated strategy."

Note one word: "probably". That’s the difference between the Islamist and the Christianist.

Email of the Day II

A reader writes:

"You self-righteously assert in your column, ‘Your Taboo, Not Mine,’ that cartoons illustrating Islam’s prophet Muhammad as a terrorist and sword wielding fanatic are in your words, ‘rather tame?’ To you, the images might have been tame, but to many devout Muslims, including myself, they were the ‘mother of all insults’ constituting a direct attack, and a excruciating below the belt at that one, against my faith. It was on par with declaring a war against all that I hold dear. Because for many righteous Muslims, like myself, religiosity is not divorced from ‘secular’ life as is the case with many in ‘Enlightened Europe,’ to whom religion is confined to only on ‘Sundays,’ if even at that. Lack of religiosity doesn‚Äôt give one the permission to offend. The right to free speech is always coupled with responsible speech, which the caricatures of the holy Prophet were most certainly not. They crossed all red-lines and bounds."

I guess I believe in a country where you have the right to a religion of ‘only on Sundays’ or no religion at all.

Your Taboo, Not Mine

My Time essay on the issues behind the Danish cartoons. Money quote:

"Muslim leaders say the cartoons are not just offensive. They’re blasphemy–the mother of all offenses. That’s because Islam forbids any visual depiction of the Prophet, even benign ones. Should non-Muslims respect this taboo? I see no reason why. You can respect a religion without honoring its taboos. I eat pork, and I’m not an anti-Semite. As a Catholic, I don’t expect atheists to genuflect before an altar. If violating a taboo is necessary to illustrate a political point, then the call is an easy one. Freedom means learning to deal with being offended."

Email of the Day

A reader writes about his dad:

"I’m a hetero male (what a stupid label, but effective for a quick intro) who lives and works in Los Angeles – I don’t care if someone is gay or straight. I’m part of the Brokeback target audience so my opinion is easy to guess. My recently widowed dad however is a different story – 70-years-old, Irish Catholic, retired Chicago Fire Fighter, ex Air Force, one-time union electrician and big rig driver. Until recently lived in rural Tennessee. Went to see Brokeback by himself on a recent afternoon in Ventura County, CA. The place was packed. My dad loved the movie. And, ultimately, I think it’s for the reasons that your sister raised – my dad’s entire immediate family is dead, his wife is dead. All that’s left is me (his son), his daughter-in-law and his grandkids. He spent years caring for his demonic father who used to bust dinner plates over his head and drove his wife (my dad’s mother) to suicide. He needed to create an emotional wall (and did this initially through drink). More than anyone I know, he is a victim of this macho-agressive dynamic … and that wall has crumbled this past year for him. Brokeback, I think, helped him realize this."