Mick Hartley

I was going to write a post about the cartoons affair which would have linked to the latest news from Damascus, plus this by Rob at Semiskimmed, Another Memo at The Religious Policeman, and this by George Szirtes – but then I started reading the Have Your Say comments at the Beeb, and got too depressed:

I didn’t see the cartoons, but from the description of them, I can see the ignorance and arrogance of some people in Denmark to Islam and/or Middle East. It’s about respecting others’ religions and cultures, not a freedom-of-speech issue….

What a sad state of affairs. People are using the disguise of “freedom of expression” when really there is something much deeper on the agenda. This is an attack on Muslims….

I have Muslim friends and they consider emotional or non-tangible attacks more damaging than physical, because such attacks, as they have explained to me, strike at the essence of a people. The West has not only attacked the Muslims but has done so by the worst possible means….

If people insist in the right to free speech as they call it, then they shouldn’t be surprised when they get hit when they offend someone. Personally I have nothing but admiration for the Muslims in the way they support their religion. Its a shame the west doesn’t support its religions to the same degree….

But this interesting insight into Muslim dietary habits cheered me up a bit:

It is not just the matter of pasteurising the Holy prophet with a bomb turban. Any sort of pasteurisation is not acceptable as that is against the Islamic faith in order to protect the monotheist belief.