Judging Books By Their Covers

A film has made its way to my attention which causes me much consternation. The film speaks of judging a book. That is fine if you are a literary critic, or if you have something to say that goes beyond just destroying it or its reputation.

There is a man who seeks to do just that. He wants to take a tricky situation, in which there are already too many extremists, and add a further extremism. He offers his opinion as a chosen servant of Jesus Christ, and displays the same hospitality as Caiphas. He seems to want to wage a war of his own, make his name, make his fortune perhaps, by stoking the glowing embers of a fire that he just can't seem to want to let die.

It is an act of generosity and love that is required when regarding the sacred scriptures of any faith. I am not a Muslim, but I do not mean my Muslim brothers and sister any harm. Neither am I a Jew or a Hindu. As a decent citizen, I would not seek to insult something that people help very dear. It can only bring one result - anger and angry reaction. What do I gain by doing that? Nothing. 

I do not recognise the man in this film as called by God. A God who 'is love' does not set fires that will burn people. I do not condone any acts of extremism by members of any faith - all are poor, all harm, all fail to communicate a message except for hatred. They all divide people from other people, they end conversation and dialogue. This 'Christian' man does not speak for me.

Terry Jones and The English Defence League

You may or may not have heard that Terry Jones, a religious person from the United States, is in dialogue with that austere body - the English Defence League. They are apparently inviting Mr Jones to come and speak at one of their forthcoming rallies. This is generating some considerable interest, including the genesis of an entire organisation to quiet this handle-bar moustached geezer.

The English Defence League visited my town in May. Thousands were anticipated, and a mere 800 actually rolled into town and were met by a well-organised police operation (see video, I'm in there somewhere - and another to see what a visit looks like). Note the quality of its participants, the choices of flags for a day supporting England, and the wise and witty chants. The visit galvanised the town, the faiths in the town, and demonstrated that such activity is pointless, if entirely legal. 

Terry Jones, apart from being a very naughty boy, is the chappy who suggested that, upon the anniversary of 9/11 that the Qu'ran should be burned. The model of religious pluralism and tolerance is our Mr Jones. He is, in most quarters of intelligent society, a ridiculous figure. Yes, he has an audience, and I can see why the EDL would want to forge contacts with him. Islamophobia must be one of those things, like Tupperware, that precipitates parties. 

The EDL, it would appear, are becoming marginalised. Their visit to Aylesbury on May 1st did little for them and their reputation - gained them 12 arrests - and strengthened a town. What they brought with them was the backlash reaction which was formed around the notion of more hate (see post). The reaction would have been more dangerous and inflammatory had it actually bothered to turn up. It didn't. Terry Jones is a figure of relative irrelevance for most people, mindful as I am that some Muslims take him seriously. They needn't - he is not the voice of Christianity, really he isn't.

So, should he be banned? Nope - because to ban him gives him status and kudos. It is akin to trying to ban Mr Blobby - pointless. Should we ban the EDL? Nope - for the same reasons. They have a right in our country to protest, and if they can't then I can't if I ever wanted to. However, they are not the force that they had hoped, and are appearing to fizzle out. The nation is starting to come around to the notion that passively allowing Islamophobia makes them as racist as the active protesters, and the world is also closing in on Nick Griffin by the same token. Terry Jones: websites marking him out as the Anti-Christ grant him more power than he could ever hope to gain by his own words or actions. Don't do it - ignore fools and they soon go away! Bring them all into town, and bring them together. If we ever wanted a case to compartmentalise them for what they are, then that alliance will be our gift. 

Not in My Back Yard

Once upon a time, if someone asked you a question, one of the first responses would have been:

'What can I do for you?'

In 2010, it seems that this statement is changed, archived, redundant. We appear, at certain times, to be an increasingly inhospitable world where the urge to resist or destroy overides any instinct to encourage and create. 

The most notable case this week was the abhorrent case of Mr Terry Jones (he calls himself 'Pastor', but I don't recognise his right), a minister of a small baptist church in America. Upon the impending anniversary of 9/11, a day in history when pure hatred killed the innocent, rather than having  day of prayer for the witnesses, he guided his flock to another place of hatred. 'Burn the Koran Day', proclaimed his website and church. Words fail me (and that takes some doing). Arguably the most toxic and inflammatory act of the year, had it gone ahead, Mr Jones would not have just offended the religion blamed for 9/11, but every Muslim in the world, and also every person who hold scripture as special and sacred. Potentially, the act he proposed could have resulted in a greater mortality, and would certainly have been considerably injurious to innocent people. Hate responding to Hate - the sum of that can only be 'hate'.

We also have a case in New York where an Islamic Cultural Centre is being built in proximity to Ground Zero, much to the resistance of so many. I can understand the concerns of those who are protesting, but it is (a perhaps inevitable) emotional reaction, not a thought-out one. Once upon a time, one Mr A Hitler authorised the killing of millions, and he once started to train as a priest. Does that mean, by implication, that churches should not be built anywhere near the homes of Jewish people? Of course not, because the actions of Mr Hitler were not the fault of Christians, any more than the action of 9/11 were the fault of ordinary Muslims. If we start to make normal, ordinary, run-of-the-mill people pay for the crimes of an extreme minority, it is our very civilisation that suffers. I will be making all the people from Yorkshire pay the price for the Ripper next, and that would be absurd.

We need to learn how to allow things to heal. They heal only when we let them, and by our efforts. Territorialism creates little islands of isolated individuals - we need, I think, to return to that old saying, wherever it is from:

'Love thy neighbour as thyself'