Burning Words

A few weeks ago I wrote about how America need not apologize for its treatment of dead enemy soldiers.  Turns out that small furor was nothing compared to our latest request to apologize.

This week in Afghanistan, some NATO troops accidentally burned some copies of the Quran.  Apparently this is a serious no-no in Islam, burning former trees that have taken the shape of the word of Allah.  It may shock some that this act resulted in massive demonstrations there, with many people killed including two Americans, but read this and you won't be that surprised.

With all due respect to the beliefs of another religion, this really is an outrage - to humanity.  Equating a bound compilation of wood products that was put together in some print shop (maybe in China?) with something so sacred that human violence and death is wished upon its (accidental) desecration?  This is taking the concept that Christians might call 'Word Made Flesh' to a whole different level.

To add injury to insult, President Obama apologized on behalf of America.  He called the act "inadvertent," and said, "We will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, including holding accountable those responsible."

OK, I'm sure at some level we had to do this to try to save other lives - presumably American lives.  But damn him for making me agree with this reply from none other than Newt Gingrich: "The president apologized for the burning, but I haven't seen the president demand that the government of Afghanistan apologize for the killing of two Americans."

Of course, the Taliban rejected the apology anyway.  They called on Afghans to take revenge, saying, "We should attack their military bases, their military convoys, we should kill their soldiers, arrest their invading soldiers, beat them up and give a kind of lesson to them that they never dare to insult the holy Quran."

Clearly, it's less offensive to some Muslims to kill people than it is to burn a Quran.

I suppose all religions have doctrines that don't make sense.  Regardless, if any belief or act can be justified in the name of a religion (be it Islam or Christianity or anything else) you don't have a religion, you have a cult.  That's something we'd all be better off without.

Cartoons Can Never Hurt Us

It's long been a fact that some of the best satire on TV doesn't even involve human interaction. Of course I'm talking about The Simpsons and South Park.

Not only do these long-running cartoons provide a visual entertainment that can't be done with people, and not only are they funny, but they are brilliantly written in a way that makes fun of society's ills.

I prefer The Simpsons and its lesser shock-value way of doing things, but today I'm focusing on South Park in light of the recent threats to its producers for their depictions of the prophet Muhammad. In short, for the second time in recent years, South Park has been edited to pander to Muslim extremists who think their prophet cannot be viewed, much less parodied. (To read more about this, simply type the words 'South Park Muhammad' into any search engine.)

Anyone who watches South Park knows that for years they've made fun of any and all things, including religions and religious leaders. There is no favoritism, they draw everyone, and all are potential targets. The only difference is, Muslim extremists apparently think depicting Muhammad in a cartoon today is a death sentence for those who dare do it.

It's worth noting that while the majority of Muslims might be insulted by South Park, they’re not calling for death to the show's creators. But it's also worth noting that this is a country that looks down on censorship. It’s not a crime to parody religion in America, but it is a crime to allow freedom of speech to be impacted by extremists who threaten death in the name of religion or politics.

Here's an idea for those extremists: Stop watching South Park. How do you get TV reception in that cave, anyway?