"Nothing worth saying is inoffensive to everyone."
So, it has been a long time since I posted much related to religion. For the most part I don't think the few (very few) people who read this particularly cared for those posts much, so I haven't put them up here anymore. What follows isn't a rant, but if you fall into this category and would like to stop reading now, have an awesome day!
If you want to stick around, I'm going to offer what I think is a 15 minute path. I think the most powerful thing to do would be to first read this article, written by Johann Hari in the UK's Independent: Why should I respect these oppressive religions?
This is an important article (to me, at least) and I am discouraged to hear what is happening in the UN. But that is only part of it...
Here is a follow-up article by the same author about 2 weeks later: Johann Hari: Despite these riots, I stand by what I wrote
Briefly, a newspaper in India (the world's largest democracy) printed the original article, which contains criticism of and pokes fun at several different religions, including Islam. That night the riots outside the newspaper's offices started, with calls for the editor and author to be arrested, or worse.
Then, shortly before the 2nd article was written, the editor was indeed arrested. The charge? "Deliberately acting with malicious intent to outrage religious feelings". This is in a country where (just like ours) free speech is guaranteed in the constitution.
Anyway, I guess if I dig down deep, all I can hope is that you share my sense of outrage about this. Sadly, it is impotent outrage... it seems that the most I can do is raise awareness and perhaps give some money to organizations that fight this kind of thing.
If you want to stick around, I'm going to offer what I think is a 15 minute path. I think the most powerful thing to do would be to first read this article, written by Johann Hari in the UK's Independent: Why should I respect these oppressive religions?
This is an important article (to me, at least) and I am discouraged to hear what is happening in the UN. But that is only part of it...
Here is a follow-up article by the same author about 2 weeks later: Johann Hari: Despite these riots, I stand by what I wrote
Briefly, a newspaper in India (the world's largest democracy) printed the original article, which contains criticism of and pokes fun at several different religions, including Islam. That night the riots outside the newspaper's offices started, with calls for the editor and author to be arrested, or worse.
Then, shortly before the 2nd article was written, the editor was indeed arrested. The charge? "Deliberately acting with malicious intent to outrage religious feelings". This is in a country where (just like ours) free speech is guaranteed in the constitution.
Anyway, I guess if I dig down deep, all I can hope is that you share my sense of outrage about this. Sadly, it is impotent outrage... it seems that the most I can do is raise awareness and perhaps give some money to organizations that fight this kind of thing.