200 people caused violence, mayhem and injury in Sydney on Saturday because of a shitty film.
Given the current state of Hollywood, and the rubbish that populates much of the television landscape, it’s a surprise that any of our cities are still standing if that is a reason for protesting.
But of course, that wasn’t the real reason these people were protesting. It’s because the film had religious content, in this case, a bad-taste depiction of the prophet Muhammed (like Candyman, merely saying his name seems to cause bad things to happen).
Sydney got off lightly: protests in other parts of the world have resulted in death.
Thankfully, moderate Muslims in Australia have already rushed to condemn the actions of the protesters, describing them variously as “a noisy minority” and “an embarrassment”.
But how much longer will we allow religious delusion free rein to cause mayhem in our society?
As a person with experience of mental illness, there are serious consequences if my brain misfires and I do bad things based on my sincere beliefs.
In fact, even if in an episode of mania my delusions were religious in nature, authorities would rush to restrain me.
Consider the irony of this case from the USA about a young Christian man who had a psychotic episode following a series of life traumas:
“After a loud argument with his pastor, Sam was asked not to return to church. This argument, prompted by Sam’s conviction that humanity was failing to follow the law laid down in Leviticus, ended with him accusing his pastor of being “a fake” and “an agent of Satan.” This would be the beginning of Sam’s legal troubles.
Sam became convinced that his god considered mixed fiber clothing sinful. He had seen the hate-mongers on TV condemning homosexuality but could not understand why they ignored the rest of Leviticus. He started harassing shoppers of the largest clothing store in town, eventually entering the store and damaging racks of mixed fiber clothing. He was arrested dozens of times, convicted often, and given antipsychotic medication which he refused to take.”
The only difference between Sam’s situation and the protesters on Saturday is that Sam was not part of a large organised group that (a) all believed the same thing and (b) are granted automatic respect for those beliefs irrespective of their rationality.
I found myself embroiled in an ill-advised Facebook discussion yesterday when a friend pointed out some logical inconsistencies in the Adam & Eve story. I joined in the discussion with my own thoughts – admittedly blunt but pointing out further bits of the story that don’t make sense – only to find myself being accused of being insensitive to faith, disrespectful and an “arsehole” simply for having an opinion.
As Sam Harris has pointed out:
“…religion remains the only mode of discourse that encourages grown men and women to pretend to know things they manifestly do not (and cannot) know. If ever there were an attitude at odds with science, this is it. And the faithful are encouraged to keep shouldering this unwieldy burden of falsehood and self-deception by everyone they meet—by their coreligionists, of course, and by people of differing faith, and now, with startling frequency, by scientists who claim to have no faith.”
And, it would seem, by people who are concerned about showing “human compassion” towards the beliefs of others while thugs simultaneously take over the centre of an Australian city and call for beheadings.
Over a shitty film.
What about a shitty movie with the pope having sex with small boys? Or better maybe jesus and maria……we life in a shitty world.
But for real I believe this is politics….it got nothing to do with religion…
You can find a lot of it: http://www.globalresearch.ca/blasphemy-as-a-political-tactic/
Thank you Chris for bringing up this topic. We must stay with reality and logic. If free speech is granted to those critical of a film, those people speaking out should respect that others have rights to make a shitty movie or say whatever they like, except for one thing: violence and propagating violence in speech or deeds. ‘God’ is made in the image of man. Like most people, I have been subjected to the majority ‘Christian’ religion of the western world, such as having to attend ‘religious instruction’ classes at primary school, even though my parents were atheist. Some ministers can be quite enlightened though and I was fortunate that my Presbyterian R.I. ‘teacher’ was more than open to human evolution. I came to think of Jesus Christ as this long-haired radical, who stood against the hypocrisy of the ‘church’ of the day. It’s possible he went to India and learnt a bit about compassion from the Buddhists as there was a great change in ‘God’ as being a jealous God who would not tolerate people worshipping any other god and could ‘smite’ them, as opposed to an all loving, forgiving, compassionate God.
‘Faith’ is belief in something that logically has no proof. When it is passed on like a virus to others, there is a herding kind of mentality that suppress anyone who is different or expresses anything different from the majority. Hearing God speak can be a form of schizophrenia. I’ve listened to many with diagnosed schizophrenia and the main topic seems to be an obsession with God. the Devil, demons and angels. If their are any intelligent lifeforms from another planet, I don’t see them having a god like the Judao-Christian-Muslim monotheists do.
I had been going to a Buddhist ‘sect’s’ meetings for a couple of years around 1980, but stopped going when a member said that I must have ‘faith’. Later, I understood this was just her interpretation and not as I understand Buddhism now; as a way of understanding people, similar to psychology, with compassion at its core; a ‘higher’ part of being human and not from any external source. Buddhism indicated to me that it was really up to each person to discover ‘truth’ for themselves; one could listen to others for guidance, but not to follow as sheep. We have to be our own scientist.
I don’t through the baby out with the bath water and appreciate what I can from religion. ‘Treat others as you would want to be treated by others’ is an excellent teaching. Believing something because other people do or any activity where reason is left behind and masses of people behave in an ‘ungodly’ manner and call for violence, is the worst part of what some people think is a part of their religion.
Very well said, is all I can and will add to your blog ((hugs)) Angel
Wonderfully put.
As a Catholic I never can understand Biblical literalism. The bible is not a science or history text book not is it the unmediated Word of God. There is no scientific or historical logic in adam & Eve: the story merely tells us that we are made in His image & we are fallen creatures: the lesson is moral, not empirical.
Unfortunately every “reform” movement in Islam is a reversion to an even more fundamentalist version of the creed, driven by the fact that the Koran is seen not as a human, but divine document, God’s direct unmediated Word.
Freedom of speech means defending the freedom despite ones utter disagreement with the content. On FB if Christians of some hue find what you say bothers them they are free to reply or to ignore you but they are unlikely to be able or even to try, stop you.
The Obama administration ( and some Aussie pols!) have shown a central misunderstanding not just of what happened in Benghazi but if the central significance of freedom of speech. That freedom is only important if that which someone . especially the powerful, find unwelcome, is defended. If our freedom of speech must be rationed to prevent others becoming violent, then violence will always be the censor.