Its a Cartoon

Over the past week, the Western world has been watching in bewilderment as Muslims react in protest to offensive political cartoons, which depict Mohammed as a terrorist. The cartoons were printed in Denmark last September, but only now are drawing a reaction. Scandinavian embassies have been burned to the ground in Beirut, people have been shot and killed in Indonesia, and overnight a mob tried to attack a U.S. base in Afghanistan leading to the death of over twenty Afghans by local police. Pakistanis are flooding the streets chanting, "Hang the man who insulted the prophet." Iran is boycotting all Danish imports, which is almost an understandable reaction. The violence; however, is causing non-Muslims to shake their heads in confusion.

My first question is, why now? If the cartoons were printed months ago, what is causing the uprising now? From what I’ve read, most don’t believe there is "a direct linkage" between the publication of the cartoons in September and the eruption of protests this month. "Only after a group of radical Danish imams traveled to the Middle East in December and January, deliberately lying about the situation ... trying to ignite public opinion against Denmark, did all these tragic events start to unfold." These imams must have been the sparks to set the blaze, but I wonder what their motivation would be to do this against Denmark and the other nations in the west.

And then there is the obligatory uninformed comment from a political/religious leader. "On Tuesday, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the West's publication of the cartoons was an Israeli conspiracy motivated by anger over Hamas' win in the Palestinian elections, AP reported." I don’t understand how the supreme leader can declare this if he knew the cartoons were published months before the elections.

Most of the debate seems to be over the issue of free speech. The Western world enjoys this luxury of democracy and has experienced it in both negative and positive ways for hundreds of years. We also have the freedom of religion and try to keep it separate from government. In contrast, Muslims live in countries with unstable governments that declare themselves nations under Islam. Their press is monitored and not even an image of a religious figure can be posted in public in fear of idolatry. I don’t believe the issue is a difference in religions, but rather a difference in cultures and their way of obtaining information and reacting in protest. They have never had the freedom of press that we have and are just now becoming aware of the power of this freedom. We spend our days reading newspapers and scouring the net for news. At night we watch T.V. and get the day’s summary of events. In the middle east, not every house has internet access or even a T.V. Your opinions are likely formed by family members or in a café with friends. When someone sets off a disturbance like these protests, you are likely to join without fully understanding the circumstance.

While watching these protests and reading about the absurdness of the reaction, I have begun to consider my own protection of my Christian beliefs. Over the years, Christianity has evolved with society while Islam is in many ways exactly the same as when it began 1400 years ago. I believe that Christians have been desensitized to blasphemy and now accept it in some ways. Meanwhile, Muslims are experiencing outside mocking of their religion for the first time and are displaying their passion for their beliefs and are up in arms about the disgrace that is being made of Mohammed. Should Christians be envious of the Muslim faith and passionate devotion to their leader, instead of pacifying the situation and letting the world make a mockery of their religion?

I certainly disagree with the method of protest being displayed by Muslims all around the world. Violence and killing is certainly not condoned. I am certain that if the same mockery of Jesus were made, Christians would protest too, but in peaceful ways such as boycotts, lawsuits and sour letters to the editor. But, do we lack a zeal for our God that these people have? Are we lukewarm when it comes to defending our faith?

The Economist has some good coverage on the situation and I’ve also been reading Anderson Cooper’s blog who by-the-way blogs during commercial breaks on his show. I blog at work too Anderson!