One-Sided Respect
This year has been marked by riots, deaths, and international turmoil by Islamic extremists over the publications of the cartoons depicting Mohammed. It was a terrible mistake to publish those cartoons regardless of which religion was ridiculed. I spoke out immediately about the need for respect in a world where nothing is regarded as sacred. For years Jesus Christ has been the subject of widespread abuse in swearing, cartoons, and irreligious slander. It is the wise teaching of Jesus that enables us to turn the other cheek when people insult us. However that is not the teaching of Islam. So when the cartoons ridiculed the founder of Islam, some imams, supported by extremist young followers, reacted with extreme violence and many innocent people died.
Many Christians expressed sympathy with Islamic outrage over the depictions of Muhammad. I have never read of any Islamic sympathy when Jesus Christ is attacked and his followers lampooned. Instead, Christians are frequently violated by Muslim extremists and over any one year, several hundred thousand Christians are killed.
In Indonesia churches are continuously burned down and members killed. In Papua this week many Christians were killed by an Islamic mob. In the state of Borneo, attacks left as many as fifty-one Christians dead, including a priest. The Christian property destroyed included at least six churches, Catholic and Protestant, the Bishop’s home, and a Christian bookstore. In Turkey, a priest was murdered in an attack that the Turkish media has connected to the cartoon controversy. In Pakistan, protesting mobs have ransacked churches and beaten Christians. In Beirut a Christian neighbourhood was attacked by a Muslim mob. In Egypt, Muslim police have ignored Islamic attacks on Christians.
By far the worst attacks have occurred in Nigeria. The rioters, who went on a rampage after hearing a Muslim cleric denounce the cartoons, sent a clear message with their choice of targets – these are our true enemies, the Christians. This led to a deplorable, yet predictable, response: Nigerian Christians retaliated against Muslims, killing one and burning a mosque. This is tragic.
In Australia, the law has been used to attack Christians pastors, leaving Pastors Scott and Nalliah in Melbourne with a million dollar legal bill in defending themselves.
Pope Benedict told the Moroccan ambassador that peace requires a reciprocal “respect for the religious convictions and practices of others.” Other Vatican officials were even sharper. The Secretary of its supreme court told an Italian newspaper, “Enough now with this turning the other cheek! It’s our duty to protect ourselves.” His frustration arises from the well-founded doubts that the West will do anything about Muslim persecution of Christians. He noted that “half a century” of relations with “Arab countries” had not produced “the slightest concession on human rights.”
Without religious freedom, efforts to spread democracy are futile, because societies that don’t respect the rights of religious minorities cannot be expected to respect any other human rights. What this tragic turn of events really proves is that, contrary to the politically correct wisdom of our day, not all worldviews or religions are alike. And the differences really matter—just ask the Christians living in the Islamic world.
GORDON MOYES
