Taking religion too seriously...

This last week there has been a debate raging in the media here in Norway, accompanied by repeated demonstrations in the capitol. The demonstrators feel that their identity as a people has been attacked, that their honor and religion has been trampled on by the media and that they are being persecuted for their beliefs.
The source of this controversy: A caricature of an arab man portrayed as a pig on the headline of norwegian newspaper Dagbladet. The subtext claimed that the picture was of the prophet Mohammed.

This is not the first time that caricatures of the prophet Mohammed have sparked controversy and unrest in the muslim communities around the world. In 2006 a danish and a norwegian newspaper published a collection of caricatures of Mohammed, inciting riots and violence against Scandinavians around the world, culminating in the burning of the Norwegian Embassy in Damascus and repeated death threats and assassination attempts against the artist and editors of said papers. Just last month the artist was attacked with an axe in his home by a muslim man.

I can understand why many Muslims feel that this is extremely offensive and worthy of critique. Pigs are considered unclean according to Islam, and Mohammed is their most important religious figure short of God. But the responses these caricatures are causing astound me.

First, to the protestors in the streets and media who demand that the government take a stand on this matter. The Norwegian government has already taken a stand on this matter. In fact it has had a standpoint matters such as this since May 17th 1814. It is called the Norwegian Constitution. In it there are listed a series of rights the people of Norway have. Among these is freedom of assembly, speech and press. Norwegian newspapers are free to print these things if they feel it has news value. In this case finding a racist drawing on a link to a police web site, which is what the story in the paper was about.
Whether they should have is a different matter.
This means that the government can’t stop the printing of these drawings, even if they wanted to. So don’t go saying that the government condones and supports discriminating views. They have no choice. We are a free western democracy where you are entitled to your own opinions, even if other people find them wrong or disgusting. These are the same rights the more extreme conservative muslims are using to fire up these debates for their own political purposes. Is it not a strange irony that the same rights and freedoms the muslim radicals are attacking here are the same rights they are using to attack it?
Living in Norway is, in most cases, a choice you have made. When you made that choice, you chose to live in the norwegian society, enjoying the same liberties and restrictions that ethnic Norwegians live by. If you are not a native of Norway this must at some point have appealed to you or you would not have come here to begin with.
If you do not like the Norwegian culture, press or values, you are just as free to return to a country founded on Islamic values or whatever other values you prefer. But if you make a choice to live in the west, don’t expect us to alter our society and its standards to suit you. We would not expect such treatment if we moved to, say, Iran.

Then to something I saw on TV from one of these protests: A muslim man making a speech in front of the protestors. In this speech he warns the people and government of Norway to stop these kinds of publishings before we have a new “9/11-style” incident in Norway. This man needs a reality check. Although I will always defend the freedom of speech, and agree that the publishing of these drawings may be crossing some ethical line somewhere, he is definitely WAY past the line of what is morally acceptable. Threatening to kill a lot of people, for any reason, is never acceptable in any society. This man needs to hear that he is not helping Islam’s outward image by making these kinds of statements. In fact, when an angry arab man with a beard gets up in front of a crowd with a blow horn and threatens a nation with violence, he is propagating the very stereotype he claims to be against. Don’t threaten a people. You will only rally people, who might have listened to a rational argument, against you.

I hold to the theory that if the situation had been reversed, that if the caricatures had been of Jesus or the Christian God, this would not have gotten so big. This is not because I believe one religion is better or more tolerant than another, but simply because the western religious leaders don’t seem to have the same influence on their congregations that the more radical Islamic leaders still seem to enjoy. Why this is the case I can’t speculate on at this time. But I have read comic books portraying God as a Liverpool FC fan and Jesus as a beer drinking couch potato, but no protests of angry Christian mobs in the streets. The difference seems obvious.

My belief system is very simple. I follow the Church of “I don’t know”. I don’t practice religion or take matters of faith as fact. But I have nothing against those who do, as long as they leave me alone. When I see people who get all fired up and fuming at the ears because of some perceived threat or insult against their faith, I find it somewhat bizarre and tragically funny. There is much evidence that such people, of every religious denomination, take their faiths way, way too seriously. I’m not saying that you should not keep to your faiths, but cool it.
In my opinion faith is a personal issue, and should remain such. Keep religion out of politics and public forums. It belongs in people’s private lives, nowhere else. What you believe is between you and your God. Don’t go mucking up the waters by bringing other people into that relationship.

And if you feel that you must take up arms to defend your faith, you really need to take yourself less seriously!

P.S.
Some people are going to criticize me for publishing this under a pseudonym, but as events have shown that a lot of people do take themselves too seriously, I choose to remain anonymous to protect the members of my family.
If you do feel like offering a dissenting view, please do so in a polite tone. I am used to being threatened in my line of work and will ignore any such.