The Un-Bearable Religion: Islam and Free Speech

By R.J. “Thank God I’m a Christian” Godlewski

© November 29, 2007, All Rights Reserved

 

 

            You would think that on my ailing father’s birthday I would rather be doing something other than writing a commentary on something so ridiculous that it should’ve only come from a Hollywood ‘B’ comedy and you would be correct. However, the mere thought of a British teacher being flogged in Sudan – obviously the epitome of human rights – for naming a teddy bear after a seven-year-old student just begs for a few words from me. With all of the insults and injustices flung at Christians over the past few decades, I find it unfathomable to think that a mere stuffed animal could cause such a ruckus amongst the so-called civilization that gave us Algebra and so many other fine treasures. No wonder the modern Arab world is a cesspool of deceit and violence.

            The hallmark of any great religion is its tolerance towards those hostile towards it. The Jews endured enslavement in Egypt and the Christians endured being fed to the lions and lit up alive as ornamental torches. The Muslims, in comparison, have put up with centuries of tribal warfare and bickering. When Protestants and Catholics have learned to live side by side in the United States, Sunnis and Shiites are blowing each other up in the Middle East to see who is better able to defeat their archenemy, Israel, who, for her part, is doing more to stabilize Muslims than the Islamists could ever hope for. For all of the evil purported to exist within the West, we don’t see women being led around by men under heavy guard and veils. We don’t see teachers being brutalized for merely entertaining young children, and most especially, we don’t see religion as an all-powering state institution. That’s not what God wanted. I haven’t a clue as to what “Allah” would want; I see the two deities as one and the same.

            So here we have a nation that served (if it doesn’t still) as training ground for al-Qaeda and given us the breathtakingly peaceful region of Darfur – not! – charging fifty-four-year-old Gillian Gibbons with blasphemy for simply allowing her class to name a damn stuffed animal. How terrible for the poor Muslims! I suspect that had Ms. Gibbons been a man, then perhaps the Islamists in power would’ve ignored the sacrilege. Ha! Islam is no longer a peaceful religion for it has become a faith hijacked by thugs and cowards – the former wish to destroy the world and the latter wish to absolve themselves of any responsibility for their brethren. Meanwhile, the rest of the world remains stunned that there are actually people out there who are so brutally diabolical that they are willing to ignore Islam’s transgressions in order to appease the unappeasable. Not me; Islam can kiss my ass for all I care about it.

            When the Ayatollah Khomeini issued his “death warrant” against fellow author Salman Rushdie years back, I immediately wrote commentaries to every newspaper that I could find announcing my support for free speech. The Satanic Verses could’ve made insult against my mother for all I cared – you simply didn’t unleash death threats against people for mere words. Today, I find my own thoughts to be without effect. How can one deal with the kind of people that infest the Middle East today? Sometime ago, I asked to hear from a few “good Muslims”. Silence.  Are there any good Muslims out there? Sure there are, but they don’t seem interested in working with me or any of my Western brethren for that matter. Again I find the need to question their religious honesty.

            In my own little way, I find strong parallels of my life with that of ‘the Prophet’s’. No, I don’t consider myself to be a man of religion, but I firmly believe that the Almighty sent an emissary to me on at least two occasions and I wouldn’t like people to refer to me as some psychotic, seizure-experiencing maniac as Rushdie is alleged to have called Muhammed. As I see it, either both Muhammed and I are legit or we’re both a couple of assholes. Either way, I can deal with what people call me – “sticks and stones” and all that.

            Still, those who lay charges of blasphemy against both Mr. Rushdie and Ms. Gibbons are guilty of far more heinous crimes than simply blaspheming the Prophet’s good name. They have climbed into bed with Satan and have trashed their entire religion. They are the ones who crash crowded airliners and detonate bombs during weddings. They are the ones we refer to when we claim that Islam is a butcher’s faith. Am I a racist? A bigot? No; I hate everybody. J Seriously, however, I call out any religion that restricts the freedom of people to exercise their God-given right to exercise free will. Only God converts; not some deranged follower of a mere man. This is why I am a Christian and I will thank my father today for raising me as such – I know that God Himself had to come here to lead the way to His Kingdom through a method so uncharacteristically “non-human” that the faith just had to be from above.

            Muhammed’s way, in comparison, just reeks of human opportunism. Not that I have anything against the man, mind you, I just know that he was only a man by virtue of his deeds. Unlike the words of the Gospel, the Qur’a is far too complicated for most people to accept. Therefore, it is abused by those who can’t accept their place in life. Not much different from modern Christians when you get right down to it, but few Christians want to degrade women and blow up children just because they can’t find work.

            Yet, I wouldn’t be who I am if I left well enough alone. I just can’t sit here and allow people – any people – harangue an innocent teacher simply because she allowed her students to name a teddy bear after one of their compatriots. So, in view of this, I have designed a simple “free speech” bear. His words are even simpler: “My name is Muhammed. I’m a bear, not a prophet. If you can’t tell a child’s toy when you see one, don’t come roaring to me!” Maybe it’ll catch on. That’s not the point, however. I chose to create this teddy bear because I want to show the world – especially the more radical Islamists – that the world isn’t going to end with the mere naming of a bear. It’s not going to end if I were to call Muhammed a deranged lunatic that deserved to die in the desert. It’s not going to end if I were to say that Israel deserves to reign supreme in the land that God gave to His chosen people.  No, the world isn’t going to end if I said any mere words no matter how distasteful they are to Muslims.

            The world does begin to end – a little bit at a time – whenever tyrants and fanatics begin to take away the rights of individuals. We lose a tiny bit of the world every time a woman is subjugated as an inferior species. We lose a tiny bit of existence every time a child is denied their childhood.  Our world mourns another passing of existence every time an innocent soul is lost through actions taken in the name of a religion. Christianity matured out of this bigotry but Islam is sinking deeper into it without any hope for survival. A teddy bear offensive? Please; have you looked into the mirror lately? This is modern civilization here, people. I can, as a free individual, call Muhammed any despicable thing that I want to and there’s not a damn thing that you can do about it. Only God can hold me accountable for anything that I say even if I were to take His name in vain. Now, are you Muslims better than God? I think not.