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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us February 16, 2006 Commentary Muslim anger, intolerance not so unusual Rob Asghar Paintings or statues of religious figures were forbidden in one grim town. Dancing and big hair were both jail-worthy offenses. Blasphemy and unbelief could result in a hanging. Attendance at religious events was compulsory, and even criticizing the holy man’s preaching ability could lead to severe discipline. What could the townspeople do for kicks, then? They spied upon one another, to catch a peer in a punishable offense. And they delighted in destroying religious images created by others who held differing views on what a good God would appreciate. While President Bush champions freedom as humanity’s chief hope and destiny, we cannot be sure that he would have intervened. First, his time machine most likely cannot grind all the way back to the middle of the 16th century. Second, the events in question transpired not in Kabul, but in Geneva — and the religious leader was not Mullah Omar, but John Calvin, a founding father of Bush’s own Protestant faith. Some Western observers are quick to use the Danish cartoon madness as an example of irreconcilable differences between East and West. But it is only fair for us to note that Islam is even now a century younger than Christendom at the time of Calvin and Luther’s blood-splattered Reformation. Islam is also three centuries younger than its older brother was when the Age of the Enlightenment brought the first measure of moderation to centuries of religious-based battles — battles that have left Europe spiritually depleted. How, then, should one make sense of violent protests in Muslim nations and nonviolent but threatening protests in Europe? One way to make sense of it is to search out what is less easily visible — for signs of how the silent majority of Muslims are responding. As one who has urged Muslim moderates to step out more boldly against thugs who have hijacked their faith, I was curious to see how a leading moderate group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, had been reacting to the cartoon saga. “The controversy has gotten out of hand,” CAIR spokeswoman Rabia Ahmed says. “There has been irresponsible behavior by extremists on both sides.” Ahmed contends that her organization has spoken for many believers in its approach to the violent protests. Its Web site (www.cair-net.org) condemns various acts of immoderation, including an Iranian newspaper’s commissioning of cartoons mocking the Holocaust. You will not find any footnotes in Arabic saying, “Just kidding.” CAIR has also undertaken educational campaigns to define the faith that its own extremists have perverted. “I think it’s unfair when the entire Muslim world is characterized by actions of those who act outside of the faith,” Ahmed says. “But that’s what you see in the headlines.” What you don’t see, she says, are the countless moderates who take CAIR’s cue in registering their hopes and concerns according to the best practices of democracy: writing letters to the editor, contacting public officials and so on. Such ordinary acts fall into the “dog bites man” category of non-news. “I can’t tell you how many times the media have called the last few days looking for a reaction and then canceling,” Ahmed says, because producers balked at the tedious notion of a talking head that wouldn’t stand up either for violence or for insensitivity. Such is our world. Yet we owe it to ourselves to watch the news while mindful of the media’s inability to see and transmit moderation — and its inability to place today’s events in the context of, say, the Talibanesque times of John Calvin. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams