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Muhammad (pbuh) Cartoons
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 26th February 2006
Revd. Matthew Vernon
It's been an extraordinary few weeks.
The Muhammad cartoons.
David Irving imprisoned in Austria for denying the Holocaust.
Now Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, has been suspended from office for four weeks for comparing a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard.
I'm going to talk about the Muhammad (pbuh) cartoons.
Without PowerPoint images of them!
There are two parts to what I'm going to say:
• what's behind the Muslim reaction to the cartoons
• and, more briefly, how Christians should approach freedom of speech.
First, the Muslim reaction.
I'll start with a joke.
Its one some of you have heard me tell before.
Its one which a Jewish friend told me.
How do we know Jesus was Jewish?
1. He didn`t leave home until he was 30;
2. He went into his father`s business;
3. His mother thought he was the son of God;
4. He thought his mother was a virgin.
Most Jews, have a great sense of humour,
• but I was anxious if the joke would cause offense.
My Jewish friend has assured me that that joke wouldn't offend Jews.
Interestingly, he was anxious it might offend Christians.
If you ask me, a sense of humour is an essential part of healthy faith.
We shouldn't take ourselves too seriously.
There are many great jokes about Christianity and the Bible
How do we know Moses wore a wig?
Some days he was seen with Aaron and some days he wasn't.
So why aren't Muslims able to laugh off the Muhammad (pbuh) cartoons?
That question comes out of ignorance.
Ignorance of the esteem that Muslims have for the Prophet.
People have come up with various analogies that would offend Christians.
A cartoon of Christ's crown of thorns transformed into sticks of dynamite
• after an abortion clinic bombing.
Some has said that for Muslims insulting the Prophet is equivalent to praising the Holocaust for Jews.
There was a non-religious analogy in The Economist.
Imagine a people called, the Yahuuz.
Some of their practices are to our minds offensive.
Among these exotic folk, people who reach the age of 80 are expected to commit suicide,
• and their remains are then gobbled up by the whole tribe.
What we would regard as child pornography, they call good clean fun.
They also perform, in hilarious public rituals, the things that civilised folk do in a lavatory.
If you find that disgusting, you may have glimpsed what many Muslims feel about western countries
• where people drink alcohol to excess,
• wear skimpy clothes
• and ignore traditional ideas about the family.
It's dangerous to talk about a clash of civilizations.
That's self-fulfilling.
But we do have a clash of cultures.
A clash of values.
Centuries of humour about Christianity,
• of lampooning the Church,
• has blunted our perception in the West of what is offensive and what isn't.
At least they've blunted mine.
We find it difficult to understand the Muslim reaction to the cartoons.
One thing we can learn,
• or re-learn,
• is a perspective on what is offensive and what isn't.
It reminds me of living in Egypt,
• a moderate Muslim country.
Women where a wide range of dress.
From Western style to covering from head to toe.
Muslim modesty reminded me how we in the West demean women with our virtually pornographic images and advertising.
Given how women are portrayed on Western TV its not surprising one Egyptian man believed Western women are easy to have sex with.
The violent reaction to the cartoons,
• the terrible bombing of embassies
• and the tragic deaths during protests are wrong.
Imam Arshad of Kowloon Mosque says they are un-Islamic.
But what's behind them?
They aren't caused just by the cartoons.
The initial Muslim response to the cartoons was not violence but small demonstrations in Denmark.
But much of the violence since seems to have been orchestrated by state governments, terrorist groups and other cynical political actors.
The protests aren't just about the cartoons, but stem from deep feelings about the West.
• in Iran, some fundamentalists nurse long-standing anti-Americanism;
• in Pakistan, opposition to the pro-Western ruling regime played a role.
• in Gaza, its more about tensions with Israelis;
Many Muslims feel that Islam is not respected by the affluent, powerful West.
That's not unreasonable when the Western powers invade a Muslim country at will, Iraq.
Or take sides with the Israelis in that terrible situation.
Without excusing violence, remember that in recent history there have been many incidents of violent protest in the West.
Remember too there have been many non-violent Muslim protests.
Not least by Muslims here in Hong Kong.
There was a demonstration in London by Muslims against Muslims who use violence.
But that demonstration didn't get much media attention.
We find it difficult to understand the Muslim reaction.
That's why I'm preaching about it today.
We need to try to understand in order to follow Jesus' command to love our neighbours as ourselves.
And all around the world Christians and Muslims are neighbours.
We need to understand to promote peace and harmony.
Peace that is constantly threatened,
• and desperately needed.
I haven't covered all aspects of the debate.
But I emphasise the need to learn about and understand our Muslim brothers and sisters.
So what of Christians and freedom of speech?
This won't be a lecture on the subject.
I'm not nearly qualified to give one anyway.
But it is an appeal for us, as Christians, to use words with great care.
I would say that freedom of speech is sacrosanct,
• but it is not absolute and it carries a heavy responsibility.
People have use freedom of speech to defend the Danish newspapers that published the cartoons.
But they should have known better.
If they'd thought about the offense they would cause, surely restraint would have been best.
John's Gospel says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
John's Gospel declares that God's Word brings life and light.
God's Word is Jesus.
And as his followers we work for life and light.
Words are dangerous.
They can hurt or heal.
• They can confuse or clarify.
• They can wound or weave
• They can attack or affirm.
• They can scratch or they can support.
You know that from experience.
Both words you have spoken
• and being on the receiving end of words.
We must choose our words, every word, carefully.
We should put our heart and soul in gear, as well as our mind, before we speak.
Freedom of speech means we can't impose our values on others.
That is right.
But we can impose our values on ourselves.
Values of respect, care and love.
I'll end with some of my favourite words:
Our first task in approaching another people, another culture, another religion is to take off our shoes
• for the place we are approaching is holy.
Else we may find ourselves treading on another's dream.
More serious still we may forget that God was there before our arrival.
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