I have never understood the concept of blasphemy.
If you are in a position of authority - a teacher, a manager, a team captain or a parent there is no surer sign of your confidence and authority than to take the piss out of yourself or to allow others to do so. In fact it is almost an acid-test of your authority if it can survive ridicule. As a human being, the same ability is actually a test of your humanity - to fail it renders you at best pompous and at worst psychotic.
So why should the (supposedly) biggest boss of all any different?
Woody Allen quipped that God may be omnipotent but he clearly has self-esteem issues. Which I guess is why all religions seem to have a supreme being who requires constant reassurance in the form of worship and who is strictly off-limits from any kind of ridicule.
Following the latest obscene attack in Paris by Islamo-fascists on those who dared to mock them and their ridiculous medieval world view, we are inevitably going to see a wave of vicious Islamo-phobia. However, the best, and only, response, is to emphasize the unity of our common humanity - and to continue fearlessly taking the piss.
Just as the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo did.
3 comments:
I see this attack as an expression of something wider than a reaction to taking the piss.Which is why I am nauseated by the hypocritical outpourings in the media complaining about an attack on freedom of speech. From the mainstream media, the Twitter Stasi, to the left activists, the idea has been established that giving offence should not be tolerated. The wealthy and well connected have silenced with the laws on libel, whilst Student's Unions, the UAF, and many others, have defended the indefensible with censorship and no platform policies. If a version of Charlie Hebdo had been allowed in places like Rotherham, sexual predators on many working class children might have been exposed much earlier.
Of course it is about more than taking the piss. Just as Islamism is about more than a primitive version of a religion frozen in time. And religion generally is about much more than believing in god.
I agree that too much of the Left has bent over backwards as apologists for Islamo-fascists under the cloak of being 'anti-imperialist'. The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend - sometimes he is just a bigoted dickhead.
It is particularly strange to see blasphemy laws demanded by Christians given that in Christ we are given a revelation of God as a person who is humiliated and executed in the most shameful way possible. Woody Allen is (on this occasion) quite right. This is a God who can clearly take a joke, and worse.
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