Nytimes ran an article http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/17/world/middleeast/muslims-rage-over-film-fueled-by-culture-divide.html?pagewanted=all about the cultural clash that fueled the rage against the Innocence video.
A protester claims “We never insult any prophet — not Moses, not Jesus — so why can’t we demand that Muhammad be respected?” He needs a lesson if not in history at least of contemporary events. Look back no longer than 10 years and you will remember how Taliban destroyed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhas_of_Bamiyan. But then Buddha or Rama were not prophets of the revealed Abrahamic religions! So they are fair game. Also it needs to be pointed out that Islam considers Moses and Jesus as prophets and of course they would not insult them.
The author of the piece chips in with a helpful "the right of a community, whether Muslim, Christian or Jewish, to be free from grave insult to its identity and values." Organic religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, paganism or no-ism don't seem to figure in this at all. You can depict their holy symbols in whatsoever manner you like. After all they were not revealed.
A protester claims “We never insult any prophet — not Moses, not Jesus — so why can’t we demand that Muhammad be respected?” He needs a lesson if not in history at least of contemporary events. Look back no longer than 10 years and you will remember how Taliban destroyed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhas_of_Bamiyan. But then Buddha or Rama were not prophets of the revealed Abrahamic religions! So they are fair game. Also it needs to be pointed out that Islam considers Moses and Jesus as prophets and of course they would not insult them.
The author of the piece chips in with a helpful "the right of a community, whether Muslim, Christian or Jewish, to be free from grave insult to its identity and values." Organic religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, paganism or no-ism don't seem to figure in this at all. You can depict their holy symbols in whatsoever manner you like. After all they were not revealed.
1 comment:
I am curious to know why you term hinduism (more accurately sanathana dharma) and buddhism as organic. Vedas (sruti) revealed themselves to Brahma and I think even Buddha's enlightenment is a variant of the notion of revelation. On a related note, I wonder why the revelation has such significance. Perhaps, it is easier to convince using revelation based arguments than using intuition based arguments. Furthermore, there might be an "ego" concerns also: "the what" becomes the subject for revelation in contrast to "the who" for intuition. A more distant thought pertains to the centrality of prophets. What strikes me as essential distinction of hindu dharma is that although it elevates the role of teacher (= Guru) as the most important person for spiritual pursuits, as far as I know, it does not say there is only one unique savior. The specification is more general. Go seek a Sadguru. It also suggests the seeker not to blindly choose one but to test one.
Post a Comment