The discussion of those Muhammad cartoons at IPFW was a little more civil than this one:
A student panel discussion on Islamic extremism that included the "unveiling" of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, including one of him wearing a bomb-laden turban, repeatedly descended into name-calling chaos Tuesday night.
The panel, which included one Muslim speaker, was repeatedly interrupted by hecklers from the audience who challenged assertions by panelist Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson that Islam was an "evil religion" and that all Muslims hate America. Outside, hundreds of Muslims and their supporters noisily protested the event amid a heavy prolice presence.
We may be divided here, but we're polite about it.
Comments
Have you ever seen Jesse Lee Peterson speak? Not exactly a model of effective verbal communication.
I'm not saying he should have been shouted down, but the guy isn't exactly firing on all cylinders.
I've seen the cartoons mentioned, and I'm of the "so...what's the big deal?" persuasion. I've also seen my share of Judao-Christian cartoons featuring various icons from both the old AND new testament, and I'm like "Gee, I sure don't feel the need to go out and burn everything down that's COUNTER to my religion". I must be lacking in my fervent wish to promote my faith....NOT!
It's interesting to note that Islam has no hierarchy, as does, say, the Roman Catholic church. In fact there is no "church" per se when it comes to Islam.
Yet with Islam (and most all other major religions of the world), there are those UNIVERSAL TRUTHS inherent to all, such as doing good unto others, not stealing, etc.
If you're too busy being concerned over
a few 'toons to be actively practicing those universal truths (and teaching by example), then you're obviously missing a HUGE part of whatever teachings were written by whatever prophet.
Islam is no more "evil" than Judaism, Buddhism, or even Taoism. It all comes down to "individual interpretation", and that's where a lot of followers lose their way. The radical sect of ANY religion is usually the one that begs scrutiny.
I say let's get all our eggs out of the one basket, pass them around, build a bridge and get over it.
Who knows...that just *might* work!
B.G.
As B.G. says, Islam is no more evil than any other religion. What makes it difficult to deal with, for those of us raised in the Western tradition, is that Muslims don't believe in the separation of church and state; to them, the church IS the state. Ironically, Jesse Lee Peterson would probably agree -- he'd just like HIS religion to be in charge.