Dogma = Blasphemy =
Evil
by William
R Alford - Feb. 12, 2006
As the latest outrage over Western lack
of sensitivity to the piety of the Religion of Peace roils in the
Islamic World, let us consider the concept of blasphemy. It is not
merely desecrating the Divine. It is ascribing Divinity to the
non-Divine.
Consider then
the following statements I quoted in a piece written a couple of years ago for Accuracy
In Media: “We knew that Bush is the enemy of God, the enemy of Islam
and Muslims. America declared war against God. Sharon declared war
against God, and God declared war against America, Bush and Sharon.”
Before he
himself was killed by IDF rockets, HAMAS leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi said
this in reference to a similar killing of the founder of a group
unabashedly dedicated to destroy an entire country via bloodshed. In a
contemporary quote, HAMAS’ website condemned a separate successful
attack upon a trio who were on their way to what was called a “holy
mission” to once again murder Israeli citizens in the pursuit of an
entirely political objective.
It is noteworthy
enough that Rantisi presumed to speak on behalf of a billion other
souls without consulting them. But what makes this statement truly
significant is that he – as a finite being – presumed to speak for the
Divine, naming who the Almighty’s enemies are, what agenda the Infinite
has in store for them and that deliberately killing men, women and
children can be considered Blessed acts.
He was saying
that his group’s enemies were, by definition, the enemies of God. In
the other example, those who were about to blow themselves apart in the
pursuit of taking civilians with them were on a mission from God. If
this is not blasphemy, what is?
And yet, there
is never any rebuke from other Muslims for the sacrilegious aspect. At
most, some co-religionists will offer a mild admonishment for the
latest suicide bombing. This is nearly always qualified by a
justification to be lain ultimately at the foot of capitalism, the
West, America and/or Israel. “Yes, it was bad what they did. That is
not called for in Islam, but…” There certainly is no condemnation for
characterizing such acts as ‘holy missions.’
The pious
Iranian mullahs are currently issuing their indignation over certain
manifestations of Western free speech. Yet, no Muslim has ever
condemned as heretics those who invoked Divine guidance when raping
virgins of the Baha’i faith before killing them, because the Almighty
supposedly demands that those females who do not practice the One True
Religion must not have their hymens intact when put to death as
infidels. Similar justification was invoked when stoning women to death
in Taliban Afghanistan – and likely continues in the Islamic Republic
today.
One would think
that smearing the name of a people and a religion would be bad enough
when committing such barbarity. One would think that good Muslims would
turn out in the streets over having such acts done in the name of the
Almighty. Apparently this is trivial in comparison to some cartoons
that utilized their Prophet’s image symbolically used to allude to a
proclivity toward violence amongst Muslims [that then precipitated
violence].
According to
Islamic scholars, Muhammad is not to be pictorially depicted in order
to avoid idolatry. If he were truly regarded as a humble
flesh-and-blood human being who was Blessed and duly Called by the
Almighty, it should not be possible to blaspheme him. Yet, when this
image is used by others, the reaction is as if this man were himself a
Divine entity. Who then are the idolaters here?
And lest I’m
accused of picking on the Muslims, I have a problem substituting one
form of dogma for another. Soon after 9/11, Ann Coulter wrote: “We know
who the homicidal maniacs are. They are the ones cheering and dancing
right now. We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and
convert them to Christianity.” When later confronted with this, she
qualified it that she only meant those who were celebrating the 2001
deaths of 3,000+ Americans. Nonetheless, several years later, she had
the following exchange with Alan Colmes on Fox News:
Colmes: Would you
like to convert these
people [Muslims] all to Christianity?
Coulter: The
ones that we haven't killed, yes.
Colmes: So no
one should be Muslim. They should all be Christian?
Coulter: That
would be a good start, yes.
One major result
of the Protestant Reformation was that the practice of ‘conversion by
the sword’ was abandoned. This was not because Christians in the
Western world became weaker in their faith. Instead, they revisited
Jesus of Nazareth’s intentions and found that clerics were supposed to
be facilitators and teachers, not the Almighty’s spokesmen.
Furthermore, they came to understood that presuming to act in the name
of God – for good or evil – is blasphemy.
Some even
considered the possibility that the Almighty has existed long before
our man-made religions. Consequently some came to accept that God is
indeed all-powerful, generous and loving enough to make contact with
every soul on this earth without man’s help.
Even those who
practice religions that originated outside of the Middle East may
indeed still be cradled in God’s Omnipresent Love even if they have
never been exposed to a word of human dogma. Certainly there is no need
to kill those who do not adopt our means of communing with the
Infinite. Apparently Ann Coulter is among those Christians who join
many Muslims in not realizing this.
When people see
throngs of people setting fires and calling for severed heads because
of some tasteless depictions of a man, it turns people away not only
from Islam, but from all religions and thus from the Almighty as well.
It has made it so that many associate making the declaration that ‘God
is Great’ with a final act that is usually followed by indiscriminate
slaughter. Consequently, many people consider belief in the Divine to
be prima facie proof of
blindness and stupidity.
Thus some people take this to mean that there is no objective source of
truth and morality, so we may as well do whatever we can get away with.
What results
could be more evil?
|
|
|
