Tolerating tolerance

We need to be upfront at the outset: the cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad were needlessly provocative and should not have been published.

We need to be upfront at the outset: the cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad were needlessly provocative and should not have been published. While freedom of speech is a right as important as religious belief for the faithful, legal rights must be tempered by civic responsibility. The publication of the Danish cartoons, however, shows that this was not the case. At the same time, while people have the right to protest, the violence and threat of violence are simply not acceptable. It is quite evident that many of the protests have been staged for political effect. The remonstrations from some Islamic countries are a bit difficult to condone, considering the restrictions in place in these countries against the practice of faiths other than Islam.

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The Muslim prohibition against the depiction of the Prophet is well-known. But there is a similar ‘official’ prohibition against ‘graven images of God’ even in Christianity and Judaism that is hardly taken seriously by the faithful. Judaism even prohibits the act of writing the word ‘God’.

Many Europeans angrily reject Muslim protests and say they are aimed at coercing them into living by the tenets of another faith, in this case Islam. This is not quite true. Over the years, ‘Christian’ Europe and the United States have become aware that they have significant minorities who profess other faiths. And the process of adjustment, force-fed by the events of 9/11, has not been easy. But if we are to ensure we don’t revert to the Dark Ages, we need to learn to respect the deeply held beliefs of a person of another faith. It is the civilised thing to do, and all it requires is a dash of common sense and a generous measure of tolerance.