I debated the Charlie Hebdo cartoons with Ali Selim of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland on BBC Radio Ulster’s Talkback with William Crawley yesterday.
Would you buy Charlie Hebdo? My debate with Ali Selim on BBC Radio Ulster
I debated the Charlie Hebdo cartoons with Ali Selim of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland on BBC Radio Ulster’s Talkback with William Crawley yesterday.
Thank you for defending the point so eloquently Michael.
Michael: the media in Arab countries engages daily in the vilest and hateful anti semitism possible, perhaps Dr. Selim should be reminded of that. He and others have made the point that Holocaust denial is a crime in France. The Holocaust is stern historic reality whereas belief in supernatural beings is very much an opinion best left at the Mosque steps.
I won’t buy CH, because even arriving at the press stand in the earliest hours of the morning, every copy has already been sold :/
I do have it in pdf, if anyone’s interested.
If Islam became so popular that the majority of Irish voting people were Muslim, how long would pluralism last?
Ali Selim’s ‘Arabic’ ploy is just Muslim double-speak. A good number of Muslims don’t speak Arabic but recite the Quran by rote with no understanding.
Pro-lifers try the same double-speak stuff: gay men have equal rights to straight men because both are not allowed to marry other men (pre same sex marriage laws).
Recently a Muslim thought he was challenging my liberalism, pointing out that Islam is more liberal because it doesn’t restrict marriage to a single partner. I said I’m cool with marriages of multiple partners, if women can have multiple husbands too. He was shocked I’d be so ‘crude’ for suggesting that no man would want to, as he put it, “dip his nib in the same ink well”, and thought it obvious that she wouldn’t be able to satisfy them both. It didn’t think I’d get any better response by throwing LGBT into the mix so I left it at that. He too thought I didn’t understand, though merely because I wasn’t a Muslim.
They are used to getting away with these rhetorical tricks, and basically bluffing and posturing their authority over those all to eager to agree to the submission Islam demands. Being offended comes as part of that Islamic cultural standard. How to lie and appear pious and authoritative while trying to think up answers to awkward questions.
Rant over. I feel much better now I’ve vented my frustration.
And for an explanation of CH: http://www.understandingcharliehebdo.com/
Containing, specifically on racism, “The cartoon was drawn by Charb. He participated in anti-racism activities, and notably illustrated the poster (below) for MRAP (Movement Against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples), an anti-racist NGO.”
I seem to remember that there are hundreds of quotes from the Koran that are either insults, threats or mockery directed towards un/disbelievers. Perhaps next time take a list of them with you and see how many your opponent claims don’t actually exist.
I won’t buy CH, because asking around where I could get Charlie led to some situations that I am not keen to repeat.
Michael, you should obviously realise that you can only derive the correct context of the Koran if you read it in Arabic, while holding it upside down and dancing the hokey-cokey.
Hey Steve,This is actually quite soiehtmng different.They are actually implying the opposite that God didn’t sleep with Mary and that Joseph did to conceive Jesus.They are in their own words “Progressive” Christians check out their website – they deny that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary – that it was really Joseph. This has huge obvious theological implications for Jesus’ Deity and everything pretty much everything else we would hold as core theological essentials.I didn’t learn until I posted it that they weren’t implying that God was a stud muffin and that Joseph couldn’t possibly compete with that. I had assumed that because of my belief and world view.BOTTOM LINE: Their advertising message had become mixed – they were in fact trying to get across a core theological difference and it was poorly crafted because it meant soiehtmng completely different to what they wanted to get across.However, they did receive worldwide media coverage. So for they would probably see it as a win anyway.