Irreverent Caricatures

Recently the Muslim world has become outraged by a set of cartoons appearing in European (particularly Dutch) newspapers. Creating an image of Muhammad (pbuh) is forbidden in Islam, and it doesn’t help that the cartoons are insulting depictions of him espousing terrorist rhetoric. These cartoons have led to numerous demonstrations, and threats from the Islamic world to cease the reproduction of such material.

I consider myself fairly sympathetic to the plight of minority groups – particularly if they are from Islamic or Arab backgrounds considering personal interests.. but I admit that this time I think protecting free, even irreverent, speech is more important than mending hurt feelings.

A part of Western culture is satire. Its aim is to criticize anything and everything – nothing is too sacred. For goodness sake – there is an entire genre of “dead baby” jokes floating around.

Seeing the way “outsiders” view your beliefs can be incredibly positive. I think movies like Dogma and Saved! are irreverently hilarious… and they show a side of Christianity I can often overlook because I’m in it.

All religions and religious leaders are poked fun of.. c’mon – Jesus battles Satan on freakin’ South Park.

My point is simply this: there are no exceptions or exclusions for religions in a world of free speech. Christians, Jews, Buddhists, etc. have come to laugh at themselves  – and now it’s time for Muslims to learn a bit about that too.