Do God and Mohammed Need Our Help?

Why do God, Allah, Mohammed or Jesus need us to defend them?

In the wake of the tragic attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, I wonder about this question. Apparently the motivation for these killings is due to outrage at an amateur film posted on YouTube that mocks Islam and the prophet Mohammed.

I get it that we don’t like someone poking and prodding at that which we hold sacred or important. But really?

I was in college when The Last Temptation of Christ came out. The polar opposite of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, this movie explored, albeit tentatively, the possibility that Jesus had a sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene. People were in an uproar.

I thought it was cool. I saw the movie and attended a forum at my university. The “panel of experts” was our three campus pastors and a few religion professors. How these people could take an intriguing, artistic and controversial film and suck the life out of it, was astounding. In the end, any energy around was deflated from boredom.

What I do remember happened after the forum. I was defending the film to another student when she said “How would you feel if someone made a film denigrating your hero Martin Luther King, Jr., and do it with lies and make-believe fantasies?”

Hmm. The question gave me pause. I probably wouldn’t like it.

But so what?

Dr. King was a public figure. He was tracked, stalked and dogged by the FBI and other organizations. He was hated, revered and loved. He was married and a philanderer. We know these things about him, and we know it because he was in the public eye. It’s what happens.

The fervor and willing anger thrown, pitched and spit at anyone who denigrates, questions or pushes on religion and religious figures, is saddening and out-of-control. It happened last night in Benghazi and it occurs every day on the internet and blog-o-sphere and almost any other time someone questions, insults, criticizes or otherwise does not ignore or adore, religion. Any religion. Christians do it, Muslims do it, and those not well known, do it. And, it’s wrong.

If Dr. King, a human being of great accomplishment and normal failings, doesn’t need defending, why would a divine entity and prophet? Why do I, a non-Muslim, have to venerate Mohammed or at the very least, say nothing about him or Islam without risking rage and violence against me or the country of my origin?

It is indefensible. Mohammed does not need to be so defended, nor does God, Allah or Jesus. If you are a follower of these entities, you believe they are divine: all-powerful, all-knowing, perfectly able to manage their own divine selves. Why would they even be bothered by a mortal questioning or even insulting them?

These divine entities, described as such by their followers, do not require our human help in venerating and preserving their position of honor. These violent responses to those outside “the faith” that push on it, question or even mock it, denigrate that particular religion and risk propelling us into further intransigence, so that we will not hear one another, learn about our differences, and find our commonalities.

It doesn’t matter what you are: Muslim, Christian, Jewish…. When you react defensively with anger, venom and violence, physically or with words, you represent that religious system and reduce it to defensive and insecure humans lashing out in fear. It does not reflect confidence in your own belief or in the power of your divine entity, and it surely does not promote peace, mercy and justice that most of these religions preach.

If this continues, we will see more violent responses to any seeming "threat" to someone's "sacred". 

All religious leaders must speak out against such atrocities. Those on the edges of extremity must not be allowed to expand their reach. Secularists, humanists and the religious need to raise our voices together and say “no”. “No” to not listening to opposition, “no” to reacting defensively to criticism and “no” to teaching and preaching division between “right” religions and hate for those who are not religious.

God and Allah do not need our help. Let’s focus on who and what does.