Islam

Monty Python City versus Kafka United – the last fortnight’s religious news.

February 13, 2015 — Leave a comment

Let’s play a different sort of fantasy football with two appropriately named teams chosen to match the spirit of some of the last fortnight’s religious news.

Reading an article on a small village in Derbyshire called Bolsover, I discovered that the city in which I live has the highest number of Satanists of anywhere in England and Wales. According to the Census of 2011 there were 34 Satanists in Bristol. The same census recorded under the same religion category 176,632 Jedi Knights which is under half the number recorded in the previous census. A Priestess of the Church of Satan was asked about the census and she said she thought someone was playing a prank and that Satanists are actually atheists and do not worship the Devil. No one saw fit to ask George Lucas about  making Gods.

Monty Python City 1 – 0 Kafka United

And talking of atheists, Richard Dawkins tweeted, albeit very briefly, that he wanted to fight Islamism with erotica. ‘Why don’t we send lots of erotic videos to theocracies?’ he said. The short answer to that would discuss legal , human rights and moral issues not to mention invasion of privacy, young children being exposed to porn, censorship and technological difficulties. Another sort of revenge porn to contemplate it would seem.

Monty Python City 2 – 0 Kafka United

Stephen Fry on the other hand caused a storm on a chat show with some comments about a capricious, mean minded, stupid and monstrous God who created a world full of injustice and pain. Then he mentioned Greek Gods whom he preferred because they did not pretend not to be human in their appetites, capriciousness and unreasonableness. The interviewer failed to ask if such a lack of pretence made the existence of insects that burrow into children’s eyes any more acceptable.

Stephen Fry got married the other week and it wasn’t in a Greek church, Orthodox or otherwise.

Monty Python City 2 – 1 Kafka United

The Archbishop of Canterbury joined in the debate and said that Stephen Fry has a god given right to express such views and not be abused for saying what he said. People must not be persecuted for their beliefs whether they are religious or atheist.

No mention of the Book of Job in the Old Testament. As for two thousand years of apologetics including discussions about theodicy, not a single reference to any of this extensive tradition. Instead we hear about rights God has given to atheists for which there is no biblical precedent that I know of.

Monty Python City 2 – 2 Kafka United

Perhaps the Archbishop made the above comments because he was speaking at a Convention held by The Religious Liberty Commission to highlight the spread of religious persecution. During it he thanked Evan Harris for his efforts to abolish blasphemy laws as he opposed all restrictions on freedom of speech concerning religion which did not constitute hate speech.

What we are witnessing here is not unique to the Archbishop. Many Christians who stand up in the media to make a statement in the name of Christianity seem to feel a need to commit intellectual syncretism and use terms, concepts and ideas from non-Christian beliefs, ideologies and -isms to make their point, or more precisely to give what they say credibility.

If you advocate the abolition of blasphemy laws in the name of free speech are the numerous references to blasphemy in the bible to be abolished as well? And if not, why not? Taking away the law does not take away the offence that blasphemous comments can cause either. And where does this leave Richard Dawkins ?

Monty Python City 3 – 2 Kafka United

With all that has happened recently I doubt if there has ever been a period in my lifetime when there has been a greater need to educate about religion and its part in shaping our past and current world. Ignorance of facts help make it easier for prejudice to thrive. TV Programmes on church history, medieval history, critical thinking and philosophy could help redress the balance and give the young especially the tools to assess extremism, fundamentalism and prejudice. So what has the BBC just announced? It is axing the post of Head Of Religion so that religious programmes will be merged with history, science and business under a new Head of Factual Programming. Own Goal!

Monty Python City 3 – 3 Kafka United

PS – there is no extra time.

Charlie Hebdo, Bullying And Free Speech

January 22, 2015 — Leave a comment

Within an hour of hearing about the Charlie Hebdo massacre I had found out that the only person I know in Paris was safe and sound. She had taught me something about French culture that I had not known before. Cartoons, graphic novels, manga and anime are very highly regarded, if not revered, in France . This is a tradition that goes back decades and I decided to refresh my memory about it and especially the recent history of the Charlie Hebdo magazine. This included looking at several articles which had examples of their cartoons and I could not understand why they were affecting me so.

Days later it hit me – I had seen a cartoon of a Muslim drawn with a hideous and massive hooked nose and the memories came flooding back of the first time I had been called a hook-nose. I was about eight at the time, had no Jewish blood in me and for the life of me could not see any hookiness . But I was bullied relentlessly for the first dozen years of my life – for being a poof, a ponce, being able to read – and with hindsight being taunted for being Jewish was more about a new and different way to bully than anything to do with my ethnicity.

Then it dawned on me what it might be like to be a twelve year old at the beginning of 2015. You wake up to hear that the Prime Minister of your own country is  standing up to defend the rights of people to offend. You can be forgiven for thinking  that every bully and troll is rejoicing to get such approval for their actions from arguably the most important man in the country?
Then the Pope gets involved. He mentions that if a good friend of his were to insult the Pope’s mother, the Pope would punch his good friend. David Cameron responds to the Pope saying this –
‘ I think that in a free society there is a right to cause offence about someone’s religion.’
It’s pretty tough at school for many kids anyway, and being a Jew, Christian, Muslim, or whatever creed often can make life even more difficult. The last thing you want to hear is the Prime Minister saying something that could be interpreted as giving bullies the right to be offensive about people’s religion.
Or the Pope advocating punching.
Respect and tolerance are two words that many schoolchildren must be sick of hearing. And many of them may well be asking two questions. Why is it that, on the one hand the powers that be extol these two virtues, and yet also extol freedom of speech which is so often used  to be disrespectful, intolerant, offensive, provocative, insulting and bullying?
And why is it OK to portray someone of another faith with a hideous and massive hooked nose when it is a caricature in the name of satire but  wrong to do so in other forms of expression?
If I was twelve years old in 2015 I could easily feel a very vulnerable and confused young lad.
The Pope not only defended freedom of expression but also talked about its limits. In the same interview David Cameron described himself as a Christian. Doing unto others as you would have them do to you is a part of the gospel message no bully wants to hear precisely because it would set a limit to their behaviour. Yet neither Pope nor Prime Minister see fit to bring to the debate any contribution that is unmistakably Christian let alone such a relevant key verse – or did such words get edited out? I am sure both  could provide a more Christian answer than advocating punching or offensiveness in the name of free speech.
Freedom of speech is given to both the good and the evil, the respectful and  the disrespectful,the tolerant and the intolerant, the peaceable and the violent, the bully and the bullied. Not every twelve year old will appreciate such generosity.
I can imagine the sarcasm which bullied kids around the world will use when they talk back to their bullies and say that whilst they disagree with every word said, they would sacrifice their own lives in defence of the bullies’ right to be as offensive, provocative, abusive and insulting as they like.
Fancy being a teacher and explaining Voltaire, satire and freedom of expression to your classes?
And as chance would have it, there is  a subject  taught in pretty much every school which is  all about people’s actions and words and how other people react, often violently, to those actions or words. It is called History. I suspect many a twelve year old today  would be baffled that so many grown ups are so surprised and shocked to hear about the consequences of someone’s words or actions leading to a violent response in a country that allows free speech.
But then most children’s conception of an ideal world does not include the right to be offensive, abusive, insulting, disrespectful or intolerant.