It would appear that Islam’s profile in the West has risen quite significantly in the past few days. What with the cartoon kerfuffle and then Abu Hamza being found guilty of eleven of the fifteen charges brought against him by Scotland Yard and sentenced to seven years imprisonment.

It is evident that a primary motivation for his words and his actions was his religion. His particular “brand” of Islam which enabled him to preach words such as

“Killing a Kafir who is fighting you is OK. Killing a Kafir for any reason, you can say it, it is OK – even if there is no reason for it,” – source: The BBC

where a Kafir is a non-Muslim, and in reference to suicide bombers

“It is not called suicide… this is called martyring, because if the only way to hurt the enemies of Islam except by taking your life for that then it is allowed.” – source: The BBC

The fact that he was convicted under legislation which existed prior to the introduction of the Religious Hatred laws, demonstrate that the current laws are adequate for keeping hatred relating to religion in check and that extra legislation is unnecessary. It makes me wonder why the Religious Hatred Bill was ever conceived.

As an aside, it’s interesting to note both Hamza’s brand of Islam, and that of more moderate Muslims, claim to be the true religion. Who’s correct? I leave two quotes from the Qu’ran, and one from the Bible, to mull over

“And dispute ye not with the People of the Book [a term used for Jews and Christians], except with means better (than mere disputation) … But say, ‘We believe in the revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you. Our God and your God is One, and it is to Him we bow (in Islam).'” The Qu’ran, Sura 29:46

compared with

“God hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods. For theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise). They fight in His cause, and slay and are slain.” The Qu’ran, Sura 9:111

Regardless of which interpretation of Islam someone may have, the words of Jesus Christ concerning how we treat others are fairly unequivocal

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…Matthew 5:43,44

Who would’ve thought some cartoons, depicting Muhammad in various depictions, would have caused such a furore?

Should such religious mockery be made illegal, or should freedom of speech be upheld, regardless?

I’ve always believed that people should have freedom of speech – to an extent. In many cases, people should be allowed to say what is untrue, that they might be rebutted by those who speak the truth. I say to an extent, as there are also many things which should not be said. There are personal details which are entrusted to others in confidentiality, there are matters of national security, there are many pieces of information which need to be handled by those who know how to interpret them correctly. It depends on what the matter is as to whether there should be freedom of speech, and whether there should be legal safeguards to either enforce or deny it.

When it comes to matters of religion and philosophy, freedom of speech is paramount, but so is respect for others.

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 1 Pe 3:15-16

Freedom of speech is necessary that debate and discussion might take place. Yes, we should be allowed to put across our point of view, as should others be allowed to express theirs. At the end of the day, if someone has a differing opinion, then that is between them and God. Even if someone is blatantly wrong, there is no remit for Christians (or indeed anyone) to force others to comply, be it to threaten them with violence or even death. Nor is there any remit to mock others because they have differing opinions. We are to stick to the discussion in hand and refrain from name-calling.

In Denmark we have a tradition of satire and humour and some cartoonists made satirical cartoons. We have done the same thing with Jesus Christ and other religions. That’s what we do with the royal family, politicians and other public figures. We were not treating Islam or the Prophet any differently from how we treat everybody else in Denmark. Flemming Rose

Looking at some of the cartoons and what those who published them have said, it would appear they are possibly trying to make a statement about how Islam is perceived, and even might possibly actually be. This is not to say all of them say anything meaningful – some of them do appear to merely mock Islam. As such, the original publishers might possibly be right to publish some of the cartoons. However, the press who have published the cartoons to demonstrate freedom of speech are at risk of merely mocking Islam without even realising the message behind the cartoons.

I may think that Islam is putting forward a false revelation of God, but I’m not going to poke fun at it. Mockery doesn’t achieve anything and may even be counter-productive. It makes more sense to put forward the historical, biblical and reasonable arguments against it.

When the Jews were exiled in Persia at the time of King Xerxes, the king chose Esther – a Jewess – to be his queen. A chap named Haman convinced the king to order the destruction of the Jews, mostly by shaking money in front of the king. Through Mordecai, God asked Esther to petition the king to remove his edict. This is not to say this task would be easy, as women had very little status in that society and it would be against the law for anyone, including the queen, to approach the king without an invitation. Additionally, Esther was part of the condemned race.

Initially, Esther balked at the idea, but Mordecai tells Esther that if she doesn’t do it, God will use someone else to deliver the Jews and accomplish his will, but her own family would suffer. With this, Esther accepts the task. Rather than barrel straight ahead into the task, she brings the matter before God in prayer and fasting. She doesn’t do this to discern God’s will, she already knows what God requires, but rather does this to commune with her God. Even with this, she plans her actions carefully and gave Mordecai instructions.

With Esther’s careful planning, and the hand of a sovereign God in all of it, everything falls into place, the Jews are delivered and Haman falls victim of his own scheming. God had it all under control.

Much like Esther, as Christians, there are many times God confronts us with a task, either through his word, the church or even individuals. Many times we respond by saying it’s impossible, or why me? We forget that God only asks us to do things we are capable of through his strength. Even more crucially, God will work out his purposes with or without our cooperation, not that this diminishes our responsibilities to do his will, but that God is in complete control.

Even once we have accepted our task, we often forget to pray. As human beings we have a tendency to pray as the last resort. It is not unknown for even atheists to pray when things get desperate. This prayer is not to discern the will of God, as a lot of the time we know what we should be doing. When we embark on a task for God, we should earnestly pray about it, that we would relate with our God.

When we carry out the task, so often we fail to plan it – at all! Even though we may be doing a task for God, this doesn’t diminish God’s use of our abilities to achieve the task. We need to spend time thinking about the task and how we might go about it, that we would successfully accomplish the task.

“Most people would be travelling in the other direction today” I thought to myself as I drove along the M4 towards Wales. Of course, England were playing Wales at Twickenham, but seeing as I have only a vague interest in rugby, I decided to attend camp reunion instead – much more fun!

After a couple of hours, I was in Cardiff – with a few others – and catching up with those I’d met at camp. The conversations ranged from mobile phone screensavers to gliding in South Africa. (You can have a guess which one was with a camper and which with an officer).

Before the afternoon was over, I left for Bristol, making the short journey back into England for my dad’s birthday which had occurred during the week. After a humungous meal, I collapsed on the settee and attempted to doze off with my nephew trying his utmost to keep me awake!

A tiring but great day spent with friends and family.

A while ago, the British government put a bill to Parliament attempting to make “incitement to religious hatred” a criminal offence. Whilst it sounded good in principle, looking at the actual details of the bill meant it would seriously curtail freedom of speech as it was very badly worded.

By the grace of God, the bill was modified by the Lords to ensure freedom of speech, and the Commons voted yesterday to go with the amended bill rather than the original.

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 95% Spider-Man 70% Batman 60% Robin 52% Green Lantern 50% Supergirl 50% Iron Man 40% Wonder Woman 30% Hulk 30% The Flash 20% Catwoman 10%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.