Muhammad cartoon row intensifies

[exoflare]

Karin:

Really where is **Jesus **being attacked? I really must of missed something on the nightly news.

Not counting all the times the use of his very name as a swear word is tolerated?

 

[Karin]

They do this on TV?

I have never seen this…I mean yes everyday normal people do this but I have never seen this on the mass media.

exoflare:

Not counting all the times the use of his very name as a swear word is tolerated?

 

[Faith101]

wow.

What what you do if someone drew images of your mother/sister/father/brother as appalling and disgusting as those.

Would you get angry? Muslims love Mohamed, peace be upon him, and it is not suprising that we react this way to anyone depicting him in this way.

I do believe that instead of “threatening” we would take this oppurtunity to educate people (the ones with an open mind willing to listen) about who Mohamed was and what he means to 1 out of every 5 people on this earth. Thats not my idea, i heard it recently from a scholar in egypt.

I request the admin of this forum to kindly remove the pictures.

 

[r.gonzales]

Christus Rex:

Islam can’t disrespect others and then riot and burn flags every time someone says ANYTHING about their ‘prophet’

learn to distinguish between the actions of people or nations and the religion itself.

 

[shockerfan]

Faith101:

wow.

What what you do if someone drew images of your mother/sister/father/brother as appalling and disgusting as those.

Would you get angry? Muslims love Mohamed, peace be upon him, and it is not suprising that we react this way to anyone depicting him in this way.

I do believe that instead of “threatening” we would take this oppurtunity to educate people (the ones with an open mind willing to listen) about who Mohamed was and what he means to 1 out of every 5 people on this earth. Thats not my idea, i heard it recently from a scholar in egypt.

I request the admin of this forum to kindly remove the pictures.

Jerry Falwell’s mother was depicted in an obscene cartoon in Hustler magazine (a far worse depiction than the ones causing the controversy about Muhammed, at least from what I have read). Falwell took Hustler to court and lost, but at no time did he get violent. I think Jesus’ command to “turn the other cheek” prevailed.

I would not like anyone depicting my family in an unflattering way, but I don’t think I would resort to violence.

 

[Christus_Rex]

r.gonzales:

learn to distinguish between the actions of people or nations and the religion itself.

I do. I have many Muslim friends who I know would not riot. I’m sorry.

However, the threads on here still attack the right of the newspaper to have these pictures. I don’t see Christians running through the streeets every time someone insults Jesus. The pictures can remain here. Freedom of speech.

 

[spiritblows]

Christus Rex:

I do. I have many Muslim friends who I know would not riot. I’m sorry.

However, the threads on here still attack the right of the newspaper to have these pictures. I don’t see Christians running through the streeets every time someone insults Jesus. The pictures can remain here. Freedom of speech.

Well, that’s not exactly the case. We don’t have total freedom of speech here. We have to abide by the CAF rules of conduct, which is why I hesitated before posting the cartoon. The moderators here are perfectly within their rights to regulate the speech on these forums.

I think a lot of Americans don’t realize that freedom of speech doesn’t extend into every venue.

 

[spiritblows]

As far as the freedom of the press, I believe that it’s an utter shame if the newspapers give in to the rioting and boycotts. I saw in the news that an editor of a French newspaper was sacked for printing the cartoons.

I think the Muslim world is entirely entitled to it’s beliefs. I also think they have a right to boycott. But rioting not only affirms my impression that Muslims are prone to violence and threats to intimidate people to bow to their will, but it’s uncivilized and immature.

Latest BBC article about this topic

Yes, the press has mocked Christianity plenty. It’s a big problem in this country that the press tends to be liberal and present slanted reporting skewed against Christianity and Catholicism. But I haven’t seen any death threats or riots by Christians. These Muslims seem to expect kid glove handling. They expect the West to compromise freedom of the press because of their extreme religious sensitivities, or else.

My view of the Muslim world and it’s ability to integrate into the modern Democratic world has sunk to a new low.

 

[r.gonzales]

Christus Rex:

I do.

then why blame islam for disrespecting people and burning flags? some muslims do these things, not islam.

as for the pictures, i haven’t commented on them as of yet and they have nothing to do with my initial post—which was a in relation to the portion of your post which i quoted. so really, the last bit of your post regarding them wasn’t really necessary.

 

[Lance]

Muslims have the right to be upset. Do they have the right to riot or threaten people? No!
If they don’t like what the papers publish they should not buy the paper and convience others to do the same.
If they don’t want Danish goods in Palestine that is their right but they have no right to harm or threaten to harm Danes who are there. They have no right to destroy other peoples property.

 

[Loren_1of6]

I think that the newspapers have the right to print political cartoons. They can go on the OpEd page with letters to the editor written by anyone with an opinion about anything. The thing about that part of the newspaper is that any view can be championed, not just the views held by the publication.

I think that Muslim people the world over have every right to be offended. They have every right to boycott the companies and countries that offend them. They do not get to show their disapproval through violence.

I think that we are focusing on the wrong thing, though. Just because we have a legal right do do something, doing it is not always a good idea. If we want to try to open relations with Muslim nations, poking fun at their sincerely held beliefs will not help matters.

Everyone is a person made in God’s image and deserving of respect for that reason alone. Even when we take issue with someone’s actions, we need to remember that God loves that person and wants that person in Heaven, too.

 

[stillsmallvoice]

Hi all!

No Muslim is forced to buy any of the publications that have carried the cartoons. (Hey, Muslims! If you don’t like it, don’t buy it.)

None of the Islamic countries in which European diplomats have been summoned to the countroies’ foreign ministries have anything remotely approaching a free press.

Nobody in these Islamic countries complains very much when official/semi-official media (print & electronic) in these countries regularly run the crudest anti-Semitic and anti-Christian garbage.

Be well!

ssv http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/sp/v/nfl/teams/1/80x60/pit.gif

 

[r.gonzales]

it’s kind of amazing just how accurately the attitudes—the prejudice, the racism, the bigotry, the anti-arab/muslim/islam sentiments—that permeates many of the posts by certain posters on this board are described by edward said in his books orientalism and covering islam.

this statement is one prime example:

spiritblows:

But rioting not only affirms my impression that Muslims are prone to violence and threats to intimidate people to bow to their will, but it’s uncivilized and immature.

as if “being prone to violence,” uncivilized and immature behaviour is something exclusive to muslims and something the rest of humanity is free of . . .

yet, here we have . . .

jews: jewish settlers clash with israeli troops, in very recent news.

central americans: mention of election violence in guatemala, took place only a few years ago.

irish christians: mention of riot that took place at an orange march in belfast, took place only a few years ago.

non-muslim australians: mention of fears of further race riots in australia.

chinese: riots in china

and let us not forget the looting and chaos that went on in new orleans after the hurricane . . . even some members of the police force (those entrusted with upholding and enforcing the law) took part in that.

 

[r.gonzales]

stillsmallvoice:

Nobody in these Islamic countries complains very much when official/semi-official media (print & electronic) in these countries regularly run the crudest anti-Semitic and anti-Christian garbage.

lest you forget, arabs are semites too.

 

[Lance]

r.gonzales:

it’s kind of amazing just how accurately the attitudes—the prejudice, the racism, the bigotry, the anti-arab/muslim/islam sentiments—that permeates many of the posts by certain posters on this board are described by edward said in his books orientalism and covering islam.

this statement is one prime example:

as if “being prone to violence,” uncivilized and immature behaviour is something exclusive to muslims and something the rest of humanity is free of . . .

yet, here we have . . .

jews: jewish settlers clash with israeli troops, in very recent news.

central americans: mention of election violence in guatemala, took place only a few years ago.

irish christians: mention of riot that took place at an orange march in belfast, took place only a few years ago.

non-muslim australians: mention of fears of further race riots in australia.

chinese: riots in china

and let us not forget the looting and chaos that went on in new orleans after the hurricane . . . even some members of the police force (those entrusted with upholding and enforcing the law) took part in that.

You would find that you would have a lot more credibility if you would find it in your heart to give an outright condemnation of the anti-Christian, anti-Jewish acts perpetrated by Muslims rather than the half hearted excuses of oppression and mistreatment of Muslims being the cause of your aggression. What was the reason for the Ottoman Empire’s expansion into Eastern Europe? Why are Muslims in Africa attacking Christians?

 

[Michael_Francis]

PLEASE NOTE

The rules of the Catholic Answers Forum, to which you agreed on registering, require that members be respectful of Catholicism, as well as of other faiths. Islam forbids images of Muhammad. Caricatures of Muhammad are considered very disrespectful by Muslims. Please do not post them on our forums.

 

[inJESUS]

a Syrian mufti yesterday said that the Catholic Church should educate europeans about Islam

no thx, we prefer to talk about God

 

[r.gonzales]

Lance:

You would find that you would have a lot more credibility if you would find it in your heart to give an outright condemnation of the anti-Christian, anti-Jewish acts perpetrated by Muslims rather than the half hearted excuses of oppression and mistreatment of Muslims being the cause of your aggression. What was the reason for the Ottoman Empire’s expansion into Eastern Europe? Why are Muslims in Africa attacking Christians?

where were the excuses in my post? if you actually looked at what i posted, i was trying to bring across the fact that this type of stuff isn’t exclusive to muslims; that all cultures, societies, nations, peoples experience such things. oppression is wrong whether committed by a muslim or a non-muslim. i’ve stated such things in other threads on this site. however, people like you never seem to accept when a muslim says, “this is not from islam, this is wrong.” instead, you try to prove that it is from islam and that we really do “in fact” think that these things are right.

you want to know why the ottomans expanded into eastern europe? try looking into the topic of imperialism and the natural tendency for empires to expand and acquire territories.

as for the muslim-christian conflicts in africa, i have no clue about what’s causing those things. why don’t you ask someone more familiar with the social, cultural and economic histories of that region.

 

[stillsmallvoice]

Hi all!

r.gonzales, fine, I’ll rephrase my original post to read:

No Muslim is forced to buy any of the publications that have carried the cartoons. (Hey, Muslims! If you don’t like it, don’t buy it.)

None of the Islamic countries in which European diplomats have been summoned to the countroies’ foreign ministries have anything remotely approaching a free press.

Nobody in these Islamic countries complains very much when official/semi-official media (print & electronic) in these countries regularly run the crudest anti-Jewish and anti-Christian garbage.

Semantics aside, I still stand on what I said. Go to memri.org/ & run a search on the terms “Christians” and Jews" and see what wholesome stuff you come up with. Also see jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/arabprtoc.html.

Be well!

ssv http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/sp/v/nfl/teams/1/80x60/pit.gif

 

[spiritblows]

Amen. The Arab world routinely is filled with hate. They often can put to death people who desire to leave Islam. They severely oppress the rights of those belonging to other faiths. Yet, they seem to expect different treatment for themselves when they come to the West.

I’d like to hear, for a change, a Muslim decrying the treatment of Jews and Christians in Muslim countries in the same way that Christians, such as Micheal Francis on this thread, who stand up for the sensitivities of Muslims.

Here in the West we routinely have Christians stand up for the rights of Muslims, such as President Bush did after 911. But the opposite doesn’t seem to happen.