Beau Jackson

Pakistani Clerics Demand Pope’s Removal

Ok…I read the above article, and just thought “how stupid are these people?” Do they really think that they can demand the Pope’s removal? It’s not a job he can be fired from. It’s not like the Church has a board of directors or something, and he can be removed. The faithful of the Church don’t vote for the Pope, and can’t impeach him. It’s a lifetime position. They’re demanding his removal…I wondering who they’re are demanding it of? God? I think most people would agree (even Muslims) that you can’t really demand that God do anything.

Of course, I suppose they could be subtly “demanding” that some upstanding suicide bomber take it upon himself to act. Who knows? But I think most Muslims are pretty rational people. At least, the Muslims I’ve met are…and I’ve socialized, worked, and gone to school with more than a few.

I’m going to rant a little bit now:

The problem is that the press gives WAAAAAAAYYYY too much attention to the extremists. Why? It sells papers, or builds ratings. If you put a picture of a bunch of little old Islamic women in the paper, and quote them as saying “shame on the Pope…it wasn’t nice to insult our faith”, well that just wouldn’t keep people very interested. But put a picture of a bunch of wild-eyed, long bearded, gun-toting nuts in the paper. with big posters condemning the Pope’s remarks (written in ENGLISH?!?!?)? Then follow it up with a quote like this:

The “pope, and all infidels, should know that no Muslim, under any circumstances, can tolerate an insult to the Prophet (Muhammad). … If the West does not change its stance regarding Islam, it will face severe consequences”

Well, hey! That’s front-page material baby. NOTE: that bit above about wild-eyed, long bearded, gun-toting nuts is a stereo-type used to make a (sarcastic) point. Sorry for that, but it’s people like the ones in this article that DEFINE the stereo-types.

And you know what? The stereo-type setters are WRONG. MILLIONS of Muslims tolerate all kinds of insults to the Prophet…every single time the Prophet is insulted. They may be hurt or angry or saddened by the ignorance of the people doing the insulting, but they realize that it’s not a capital offense to insult somebody. But there are a few nut-jobs out there that start killing people, and burning buildings in the name of Islam and the great insults to it. And the press reports it, because the rest of the world eats it up, and the stereo-type gains all that much more credibility.

When was the last time you heard of a Jew killing somebody (or even threatening to kill somebody) because Abraham, or Moses, or any Hebrew prophet was insulted? When have you heard of 1,000 Christian priests, ministers, and Christian faithful getting together and demanding the removal of some Islamic leader because he (gasp!) had the gall to say something that might be construed as insulting to Jesus? Probably never. Why? Because if there is anybody doing that, the press isn’t reporting on it. If there is anybody doing that, it’s old news, and nobody wants to hear about it. Terrorism, and particularly Muslim terrorism SELLS.

Ok…deep breath…calm down…

Now that I’ve calmed down a bit and stepped off of my soap box, I’m left feeling sad. Sad for the extremists of the world (not just Muslim extremists - anybody who’s so far out there that they have no tolerance for any way but their own). Sad for the people who believe the whole Muslim world is up in arms over the words of the Pope, just because the press has told them so. Sad for the Muslims who must think the whole Christian world hates them (because THEIR press tells them so).

We should all pray for patience, and compassion, and healing. And we should all make sure we don’t believe everything the press says or implies, just because it’s in the press.