Dinesh D'Souza on Blasphemy

Folks, Dinesh D'Souza wrote a very hard-hitting piece on the Catholic Educator's Resource Center, presenting a different take on the Muslim reaction to the Danish cartoons, and comparing Muslim and Christian reactions before blasphemy. I liked these paragraphs:

Evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics are frequently portrayed by secular liberals as fierce religious fanatics who are trying to impose their morality on others and perhaps even to turn America into a theocracy. But what is striking about conservative Christians is how passive and invertebrate so many of them are when their deepest beliefs are violated. The distinguishing quality of the Christian seems to be niceness, and I don't mean this as a compliment. When a man calls your wife a whore it is not a virtue to respond with niceness. When your religion is mocked and blasphemed, it is sign of cowardice to pretend not to notice.

Muslims don't. Activist Muslims were not amused by Rushdie's book, and they are equally incensed about the Danish newspaper's cartoons showing Muhammad wearing a turban with a lit fuse, and Muhammad telling would-be suicide bombers that they should slow down because heaven is running out of virgins. Protests have erupted across the Islamic world, and there have been calls to ban Danish products.

The reaction of newspapers in Europe has been to reprint the offensive cartoons in the name of freedom of expression. "We would have done exactly the same thing if it had been a pope, rabbi or priest caricature," wrote the editor of France Soir. He was reflecting the secular view of fairness. This concept of fairness was exhibited when Muslims complained that school girls were prohibited from wearing Islamic dress. The French government responded by declaring that Christians could not wear crosses either. Look, say the French, we are being fair by discriminating equally against all religions. This was the point being made by the editor of the paper: we are insulting the Muslims just like we routinely insult Jews and Christians.

When the movie The Last Temptation of Christ came out several years ago, it was shown to critical acclaim throughout the West despite its blasphemous portrayal of Christ's sexual fantasies at Calvary. The only countries that banned the movie were the Muslim countries. The reason is that Muslims consider Christ, like Moses, to be a prophet. Not only do Muslims protect the reputation of Muhammad, but apparently they also care about how Christ is portrayed as well. Whose reputation silent Christians are protecting is anybody's guess.

Dinesh D'Souza is the Robert and Karen Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. D'Souza has been called one of the "top young public-policy makers in the country" by Investor’s Business Daily. His areas of research include the economy and society, civil rights and affirmative action, cultural issues and politics, and higher education. He is the author of several books and contributor to several magazines. Read the entire piece here.

Commentary. This is a very challenging essay. We take for granted the coarseness of our culture and decide to live in it without making waves, we don't want to be a bother. Situations like those that forced Viacom to stop the broadcasting of a particularly offensive episode of Comedy Central's South Park are only an exception to the general rule of hostile treatment of religious subjects in the American media.

I'm not saying that we should react by taking lives and destroying property like the oppressed Muslim masses in Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria are doing, but that we can be a bit more vocal in our opinions. We can afford to be offended here in America, every now and then. In Spanish we have a saying: quien calla, otorga, which may be translated as "silence equals license." In other words, if I remain silence while you offend me, I am really giving you permission to continue.

Perhaps we've been silent for too long.