Thursday, May 20th is “Draw Mohammad Day” on Facebook. Well, sort of. A new page was launched on Facebook to encourage people to draw their idea of what the prophet Mohammad looks like. The whole thing supposedly started out because a Seattle based cartoonist made a cartoon in protest to Comedy Central’s censorship of an episode of the cartoon South Park. In the episode, Mohammad was depicted in a bear suit. In Islam, it is blaspheme to depict an image of Mohammad.The writers of South Park got death threats from Muslims so Comedy Central edited the show.
Now we have this. Are people taking it a little too far? Or, are we (Americans) being subjugated by a radical faction of Islam that has effectively taken away our freedom of speech? Tolerance or too much? The late Carl Sagan once wrote that, “Belief systems that cannot withstand scrutiny, are probably not worth having.” We criticize everything in this country. Part of that criticism sometimes involves mockery. Is it alright to mock a handicapped person who cannot defend themselves? I would argue that is not alright. Religion, on the other hand, is not a defenseless handicapped person. Religion, all religion, is guilty of subjugating its followers and persecuting everyone who does not subscribe to their madness. Religion kills human lives for disagreeing with its dogma. Religion spreads lies and hatred. When we criticize a religion and engage in open dialog with its adherents, we usually are mocking the dogma and superstition, not the individuals who fall prey to the religious indoctrination.
Bottom line: Islam can and should be scrutinized just like any other belief system. The fact that many are afraid to scrutinize it for fear of personal harm is a horrible repugnant notion that goes against everything this country was founded on. Personally, I do feel that the Draw Mohammad Day is in poor taste, but it is not illegal (yet) and certainly not unwarranted considering how our freedoms are slowly being stifled by fear.