Following Jesus Christ Superstar
(turned into a movie in 1973, which was well done), Monty Python did an
irreverent parody and satire of Christianity- The Life of Brian in 1979. The Life of Brian has been heralded as one
of the greatest comedies of all times and while it was by definition, blasphemous,
and was shunned by the BBC and some local towns in the UK, the film was
ingenious and uproariously funny. Its
edginess and Monty Python silliness can still elicit guffaws with Christ and
the two thieves singing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” as they hang
on the cross and the reference to “Biggus Dickus” by Pontius Pilate. Despite its outlandishness, there were no
riots, no violence, no mass protests opposing the film. No one died as a result. More
recently, The Book of Mormon, first staged in 2011, took a direct, playful
swipe at a particular sect of Christians, the Mormons. It also was widely acclaimed and I saw it a
few years ago with my son. Rather than
howling about how offensive the film was, the Mormons simply rolled with it,
and even took out ads in the playbills that read, “You saw the musical, now
read the book.”
The only time I remember artists
getting Christians riled up was the work “Piss Christ,” funded by the National
Endowment for the Arts, which depicted a crucifix in urine. That work did provoke the ire of many Christians,
but the irritation was mostly over whether the government should pay for
this. The only real threats were
directed at cutting off government funding.
Seeing Jesus Christ Superstar and
reflecting on some of the other artistic portrayals of Christianity made me
pause and ask some questions about Islam, and ultimately whether Islam is
compatible with the West. But merely
asking that question triggers a hysterical accusatory response of
“Islamophobia,” a synthetic word designed to cut off discussion and debate. Given the experience of Europe, it is a
question that should be asked.
I will also not pretend to be a
religious scholar, and I acknowledge that my theological depth of knowledge of
my own faith—Catholicism is only ankle deep and I do not pretend to know a
great deal about Islam and its belief system.
But I do observe things, and have enough knowledge to at least raise
questions. And whether or not Islam is
fundamentally compatible with the West is a question that needs to be answered
and needs to be subject to debate and grounded in reality. I also understand that Islam is complex and
has sects and gradations and just like Catholicism, there are adherents that
are strict about their faith and some that are, like me, looser and prefer a
more a la carte menu.
But I have some reservations
about Islam’s ultimate compatibility with the West, and those reservations rest
on three components. First, is that
unlike Christianity and Judaism, Islam does not appear to recognize a
difference between church and state.
For a great number of Muslims, they are intertwined. And the two nation states where Islamists
have seized the controls of government—Iran and Turkey—those societies and
economies have suffered greatly. Secondly,
is the difference between the founders.
Christ was a messenger of peace- love thy neighbor as thyself is a basic
precept of Christianity. Muhammed, in
contrast, was a warlord, and was interested in conquest. The founder’s themes are hard to ignore. The third aspect, and one the only one that I
will address here, is Islam’s aversion to free speech.
The initial provocation from
Islam regarding free speech came in 1989 from Ayotollah Khomeini, who put a
fatwa on writer Salman Rushdie for his novel The Satanic Verses, published in 1988,
forcing Rushdie into hiding for years.
Dutch film make Theo van Gogh was gruesomely murdered in 2004 after
producing his film “Submission.” In
2008, a Danish newspaper was forced to apologize after setting off riots when
it published a cartoon depicting Muhammed with a bomb in his turban. Borders book chain (since defunct)
self-censored and pulled copies of magazines and newspapers carrying the
cartoon out of concern for the safety of their customers. In 2015 the offices of Charlie Hebdo were attacked
in France resulting in the murder of 11 people and the attackers injured 12
more.
Islam has largely been behind
hate speech laws and other institutional curtailment of free speech. Britain has stepped up enforcement of its
hate speech laws, and British police monitor social media to ensure that posts
offensive to Muslims are dealt with.
Canada recently passed C-16 which contains language which restricts
language that reflects “Islamophobia,” that Jordan Peterson has spoken out
against. There has been a push at the
U.N. to curtail “blasphemy,” and even in the U.S., President Obama warned that
“the future must not belong to those that slander the prophet of Islam.”
Recently, the College of the Holy
Cross announced that it was going to shelve its mascot—the crusader because
Muslims found it offensive. Can you
think of an Islamic institution or organization that changed its symbol or logo
because it was offensive to Christians or Jews?
As a sometimes rebellious
Catholic, I am free to criticize the Church and the Pope—which I vociferously
have on many occasions. I am free to
reject and question doctrine. I am free
to poke fun at my own faith and its practices (I thoroughly enjoyed Do Black
Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?), and some of its traditions. I can mock the Catholic Church and even
other faiths without threat of violence to me (today, for instance, the Vatican
expressed concern over tweeting nuns—really??).
Assume I had a 11 year old boy and assume my local church was sponsoring
a weeklong religious retreat for young boys chaperoned only by 10 Catholic
priests. Given the sex abuse scandals,
no one in the world would call me Catho-phobic because I expressed reservations
about permitting my son to attend unaccompanied. No one would say, “Gee, it’s only a minority
of priests that do that sort of thing.
Why are you worried?” Do the same standards not apply to Islam?
Free speech in the West is our
most vital freedom. In the West,
generally, and in America especially, we curtail it only under the narrowest of
circumstances, although it is being eroded in Europe and on college campuses in
the U.S. In the nearly 50 years since
the initial production of Jesus Christ Superstar and other satires and parodies
of Christianity in the West, there has not been a single death or violent
incident arising out of them.
But after seeing Jesus Christ
Superstar, it occurred to me that one test as to whether Islam is compatible
with the West would be to produce a good natured musical parody of Islam and
Muhammed, complete with dancing girls and shortie burkas. I ask a simple question of whether you
would bring your family to opening night?
Would there even be an opening night?
Could you have an opening night, or any other night for that matter
without hardened security?
We should not be afraid to ask
those important and complicated questions and not permit others to stop us from
asking them. America is a welcoming and
tolerant nation. But there are two
provisos. First, if your religious creed
bumps up against OUR sacred document (the Bill of Rights), yours must
yield. And second, we are a free and
open society. You should be expected to
adapt to our social norms and not expect us to adapt to yours.
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