Christians and Desecration
The Scene contains an interesting article by John Spragens about a web posting by Bill Hobbs. A discussion of the related pieces can be found at Nashville is Talking.
While the debate centers around Hobbs' cartoon and whether, in an effort to make a point about free speech, he ends up 'desecrating' the Prophet Muhammed. Hobbs worries about self-censorship in the media. Spragens sees Hobbs' as having "attacked" Islam rather than just the fanatics.
For me, there is a different question that Christians ought consider. Would this debate even exist if someone were to publically desecrate the image of Christ?
Take the instance of the artist Serrano and his work 'Piss Christ.' When that particular piece of art was in the news, there was no cry outside Christian groups (and mostly conservative ones at that) about the offense given by that work, not to mention that it was federally funded.
Christian ministers, again especially conservative ones, are regularly depicted as hucksters, crooks, morally depraved or worse. Rare is the similar portrayal of clergy from other faiths.
If it is bad to tolerate negative depictions of Muhammed, why is it not equally wrong to tolerate anti-Christian messages?
This is not a call for censorship but just a musing on whether Christians suffer from a double standard among media figures who would, as with Mr. Spragens' piece, jump to the defense of another religion. Can one defend 'Piss Christ' and chastize Bill Hobbs?
While we Christians have a call to 'turn the other cheek,' does that mean we should not speak out against the desecration of our sacred figures?
While the debate centers around Hobbs' cartoon and whether, in an effort to make a point about free speech, he ends up 'desecrating' the Prophet Muhammed. Hobbs worries about self-censorship in the media. Spragens sees Hobbs' as having "attacked" Islam rather than just the fanatics.
For me, there is a different question that Christians ought consider. Would this debate even exist if someone were to publically desecrate the image of Christ?
Take the instance of the artist Serrano and his work 'Piss Christ.' When that particular piece of art was in the news, there was no cry outside Christian groups (and mostly conservative ones at that) about the offense given by that work, not to mention that it was federally funded.
Christian ministers, again especially conservative ones, are regularly depicted as hucksters, crooks, morally depraved or worse. Rare is the similar portrayal of clergy from other faiths.
If it is bad to tolerate negative depictions of Muhammed, why is it not equally wrong to tolerate anti-Christian messages?
This is not a call for censorship but just a musing on whether Christians suffer from a double standard among media figures who would, as with Mr. Spragens' piece, jump to the defense of another religion. Can one defend 'Piss Christ' and chastize Bill Hobbs?
While we Christians have a call to 'turn the other cheek,' does that mean we should not speak out against the desecration of our sacred figures?
posted by Mark Rogers at 11:33 PM
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