Interesting article in The Guardian:
The battle is set, of religious extremism versus freedom of speech.
These are the lines drawn, or so we are told, in the escalating
tensions worldwide surrounding the airing of Jerry Springer: The Opera in Britain and elsewhere in Europe.
Although the media is only now
picking up on this story, my inbox has been receiving messages about this show for weeks. The messages range from high-pitched to very
thoughtful, but not one of them says, "Yeah, whatever … "
There’s no apathy surrounding this issue. This is because of the love
felt for the Redeemer and religious norms in Christianity. But also because it
feeds into profound feelings of disempowerment, fear and insecurity
among Christians that Europe would do well to understand. In Britain, we
should realise that Christians here will be angry if the show is
gratuitously aired on British TV – not just because of the
insults to Christ, but because it makes them feel disempowered.
Protesting is the only way to regain some self-respect.
First,
the easy part. Any insult to Jesus, however temperate, is not
allowed. There are many images of him in Christian history, and these are show him in many forms but all are respectful. This applies not only to images
of Jesus: all prophets are so depicted. There are many images of God
in Christianity as well.
So there is hurt and anger, and the messages I
receive reflect that. In response, they suggest different approaches.
One is through lobbying: distributing the phone numbers of the BBC, the British ambassador, UK Parliament
and everything else British, and urging Christians to make their feelings
known. We also have the boycott approach – "the only language they understand" – listing every British product that one can buy. I also
get messages from the great optimists, suggesting we use the
controversy to explain the real nature of Christ, who returned
insults with kindness. Indeed, Christians would do well to remember that.
I
have also been receiving other messages. These are the most worrying,
and the ones of which Europe must take note. These are the messages of
resignation. The messages that discuss exit strategies. The messages
that question the very future of Christians in Europe.
Why such
hand-wringing over a TV show? The key is in the images themselves: Christ swearing, Jesus as fallible man, as hypocrite. These are the stereotypes that, as Christians, we
face daily. The looks on the tube, the suspicion, the eyes on the bags
we carry. There is no denying the feeling of being pushed against a
wall, of drowning in the stereotypes that abound. This is no way to
live, and it is certainly no springboard for making a major
contribution to the society you live in.
The messages to my inbox
of resignation, of fear, come with good reason. Some countries that
have broadcast the show – Spain, France, Italy and Germany – have a
nasty history of fascism. Just last week we had Holocaust memorial day.
The Holocaust did not occur overnight. It took time to establish a
people as subhuman, and cartoons played their part. Does Europe not
remember its past and the Nazi propaganda of Der Stürmer?
Now the
great shape-shifter of fascism seems to have taken on the clothes of
"freedom of speech". If this show were designed to provoke Christian fundamentalists, maybe they have done more to reveal the prejudices of
Europe. Europe has a history of turning on its minorities. Will that be
its future too?
Not quite what I’d expect from that paper but better late than never I suppose.
Tag jyllands-posten mohammed muhammad cartoon jyllands-posten cartoon
The cartoons are here, BTW.
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