A thoughtful reader response to my piece on Islamic blasphemy laws
My very closest friend in the world has some intelligent things to say which disagree with my conclusions.
Many of you will have read or at least seen my piece arguing that it is a moral good to blaspheme the sanctities of Muslim fascists who attempt to kill people for doing things like drawing the Prophet Muhammad, which is here. If you have the time and the energy, I would recommend reading it before engaging with this reader response to it, especially since I’ve edited it several times since I initially published it.
It’s controversial enough that I don’t expect most or even many of you to agree with it. One of the people who took issue with it was my very closest friend in the world, or, more accurately, one of three people who are roughly equally close to me and who count as my three equally beloved best friends. As it turns out, all three of them disagree with me on this question to a greater or lesser extent, but the one whose response I’m publishing is someone I will pseudonymously refer to as Violet. Violet is an agnostic who comes from a Bahá’í family, and it is a privilege to have obtained her permission to share these fruits of her bright and beautiful mind. The other two are Alfred, a convert from the Reconstructionist Judaism in which we were both raised to conservative evangelical Protestantism, and Sapphire, a Leftist feminist postmodernist Anglican. If Alfred or Sapphire choose to speak up, I’ll let y’all know, and of course everyone reading this is welcome to supply feedback. For now, here‘s Violet’s thoughtful and compassionate dissent from my view:
“I wish my thoughts unspooled as quickly and neatly and with as much conviction as yours. I feel nervous wading in, because of how strongly you feel about these issues and because you have devoted a lot more time and energy to their consideration than I have. At the same time, I’m moved by your willingness to engage with me on difficult topics and help me refine my own thinking, and I’m reassured by our mutual certitude that neither of us intends to cause suffering to any creature—that we’re both motivated by the pursuit of a better and more humane and loving future for every human being.
Let’s be clear that I agree that Islamic extremism or supremacism is a vile and dangerous ideology; that proponents of this ideology are fully conscious moral agents; that there should be no legal consequences for depicting the Prophet Muhammad or criticizing Islam; that the answer to Islamic extremism is not wars, bombs, or drones; that supporting Muslim liberals, feminists, apostates, LGBTQ+ people, and embattled non-Muslim minorities and letting them immigrate to the West in large numbers is important; and that upholding a universal standard of human rights means decrying Islamic supremacism and Islamophobia.
What I disagree with is basically the title of your piece—that it is an unambiguous moral good to blaspheme the sanctities of fascists—even when it means blaspheming the sanctities of a much larger group that is an oft-discriminated against and otherwise othered minority. To me, it is much more important, constructive, and in alignment with the kind of world I want to live in for the dominant culture to work to cultivate a society where Muslims know that they are welcomed, loved, and belong.
It’s not that I think that Muslims are especially fragile and cannot withstand having their sensibilities offended—in fact, it’s been my impression is that most Muslims living in the West by necessity have very thick skin. It’s that it is much more important to me not to insult regular Muslims and not to contribute to a social environment in which they feel alienated and oppressed than it is to insult fascists.
I suppose I would feel far more conflicted about this if there was any evidence to suggest that drawing and publishing pictures of the Prophet Muhammad contributed in some concrete way to reducing the suffering caused by extremism. But has a single fundamentalist abandoned their beliefs or given up their cause because of how moved they were that a white Westerner was not afraid to offend them—even that they were willing to be killed to stand up to them? To me, it seems far more likely that our cheering on the depiction of the Prophet would move someone on the edge of extremism off the ledge, entrench divisions we need to bridge, and strengthen the impression of regular Muslims that Western culture does not distinguish between them and extremist terrorists.
Islam, like any religion, is not just a set of chosen beliefs, but a culture and identity. We can choose what we believe, but we can’t choose what beliefs we’re exposed to as children, or the norms and taboos we're inevitably indoctrinated with. Some people, like me and you, live closely examined lives in which we agonize over right and wrong; other people, for a whole host of reasons, move through life without looking too closely at why they think what they think. This is not to say that they are not responsible for their actions, only that I don’t believe that one’s religion is an entirely chosen characteristic.
As very different cultures are brought together by technology and globalization and the need to work together to solve the various apocalyptic scenarios dangling over our heads like the sword of Damocles, I think we will need to become more conservative in some ways—or maybe not more conservative exactly, but more attuned, more sensitive, more humble.
This doesn’t mean that I don’t think we should mourn the Charlie Hebdo guys. They were viciously murdered by criminals inspired by a repulsive ideology. But I also don’t see how a Western stance where insulting the Islamic world is celebrated, emulated, or considered a moral good simply because it provokes extremists will bring us any closer to mutual understanding, a shared sense of belonging and responsibility to each other, or a lasting peace.”
Violet makes a series of good points, and I’ll have to ponder them. Violet and I share the goal of making Muslims feel welcome in non-Muslim environments, so the points she has raised are important to consider. I suspect y’all will find them worth your time to think about, too.