Religion,  Terrorism

Victim-blaming on the Catholic Right

8 January 2015

It’s not just far-left moonbats and Muslim extremists who are indulging in victim-blaming following the Charlie Hebdo atrocity on Wednesday.

It’s also at least one prominent rightwing American Catholic– Bill Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

Donohue wrote:

Killing in response to insult, no matter how gross, must be unequivocally condemned. That is why what happened in Paris cannot be tolerated. But neither should we tolerate the kind of intolerance that provoked this violent reaction.

Those who work at this newspaper [Charlie Hebdo] have a long and disgusting record of going way beyond the mere lampooning of public figures, and this is especially true of their depictions of religious figures. For example, they have shown nuns masturbating and popes wearing condoms. They have also shown Muhammad in pornographic poses.

While some Muslims today object to any depiction of the Prophet, others do not. Moreover, visual representations of him are not proscribed by the Koran. What unites Muslims in their anger against Charlie Hebdo is the vulgar manner in which Muhammad has been portrayed. What they object to is being intentionally insulted over the course of many years. On this aspect, I am in total agreement with them.

Stephane Charbonnier, the paper’s publisher, was killed today in the slaughter. It is too bad that he didn’t understand the role he played in his tragic death. In 2012, when asked why he insults Muslims, he said, “Muhammad isn’t sacred to me.” Had he not been so narcissistic, he may still be alive.

The Catholic League’s Board of Advisors includes some fairly influential figures on the American Right: Brent Bozell, Linda Chavez, Lawrence Kudlow and Michael Novak.

Perhaps they’ll advise Donohue to put a sock in it.

Update: Our old adversary Inayat Bunglawala gets it right this time.

So does David Aaronovitch (his message applies equally to adherents of all belief systems):

And an encouraging message from Aleppo, Syria: