ah, blasphemy...

     Just thought I'd react rashly to this article about the trial of Geert Wilders.  I know little enough about Wilders and his political party, which is to say, I only know what I read from time to time in the news.  For that reason, I have nothing intelligent to say about the man or his party.  No, I want to say a few words about words, and about Islam.  Along the way, I warn you, even the casual reader will find multiple instances of what that religion considers blasphemy.  As you will see, dear reader, I've concluded that that is just too damned bad.
     Now, I have read the Quran.  When I first encountered it, I was in a receptive frame of mind, being at that time a 24 year old student of medieval philosophy and theology kindly disposed to Islamic mysticism and the works of al-Gazali.  To my surprise, I found much of it distressing, to say the least, but there were dogmatic, theological reasons for that, reasons which I could at the time barely articulate.  What I had realized, without knowing how to say it clearly, was that Islam is, in its core confession, blasphemous. 
     We'll get to that in a moment.  For now, let me say that as you find me, I agree with this, taken from the article:  '“No moderate Islam exists,” Jansen said; “moderate Muslims do exist,” but they do not have scripture on their side.' 
     Why, you might ask, given that I know Muslims who are learned, kind, and open?  Well, I'll tell you, it's the simple fact that Islam did come tear-assing out of the Arabian peninsula, and from there conquered by the sword most of Christendom.  From that era to the present, the history of Islam has been one of conquest and oppression of Christians when possible, and disgruntled resentment of Christians when not.  We're in a transition time, I think, and so Muslims around the world use threats of violence to silence those in the West and elsewhere who might raise a critical point with regard to the Religion of the Prophet.  I note, for instance, as does the article, that Wilders public remarks and policy proposals have not resulted in the kind of violence the ridiculous laws governing speech in his country is supposed to prevent, but Wilders and others have received death threats, and some, like Theo van Gogh, have received much worse.
     Here I must digress for a moment.
     Speech is supposed to be provocative.  It's meant to arouse folks, to move 'em.  That's the risk inherent in speech - it will inevitably lead to hurt feelings and flared tempers.  More dire is the simple fact that any real clash of ideas, confessions, loyalties, is a conflict over Truth.  That's just the way it is.  And it is just this that a Liberal Democracy can not allow any more than Fascism can - free speech leading to conflict.  For the later, this is an existential threat [to use a fashionable phrase] to Leader wielding the Fasces; for the former, it is a threat to the system's procedural neutrality.  Such conflicts, again, result from the fact that for the parties so incited, nothing less than Truth is at stake, and it is just this kind of truth that undermines both Liberal Democracy and Fascism. 
     We'll pick that back up in a moment.  For now, let me say that Muslims might take umbrage at my position on relations between Christians and Islam.  What is that position?  Succinctly put, that Islam is our enemy.  We may befriend particular Muslims as the chance arises, but we cannot make nice with Islam itself.  Islam, dear reader, is grounded on many interlocking confessions, one of which is of course crucial:  God has no Son.  This, rather than some silly notion that Allah is a Voluntarist while Yahweh is a Thomist, articulates quite honestly the great divide, for to a Christian of even lukewarm devotion like me, such a confession is nothing less than blasphemy.
     Now here's where it gets tricky.  Precisely the Christian confession that God simply is the Father begetting the Son in the Holy Spirit in all eternity world without end, and that the Son was born of the Virgin Mary as a very real man in a particular place at a particular time, and that moreover he died a shameful death on the cross to save humanity from sin and death, to be raised again...well, let's say that to a Muslim, that must sound like blasphemy.  In fact, it was just this assertion that justified the conquest of Christendom in North Africa, the Levant, Anatolia; other blasphemies exercised 'em in Persia.  I say this, not as a good relativist who wants to point out that one man's devout confession is another man's blasphemy.  That may indeed be so, but I'm willing to get into serious trouble here - it's too damned bad that Muslims find the Christian confession blasphemous.  They should get over it.  After all, the Christian confession has the virtue of being true.
     To return, then, to what I said about provocative speech, here we see the crux of the confusion many feel when they observe Muslims and Christians in conflict - it is an intractable conflict over ultimate Truth.  To many Christians, it is indeed an eschatological conflict, inasmuch as Jesus is the incarnate Son whose crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension have brought on the New Aeon, while Islam is a relic of the Old Aeon fighting its demise.  To say this in no way implies that the conflict need be violent, at least on the Christian side.  Of course, in the day when outright war was waged on Christendom [Vienna, anyone?  Lepanto?  Barbary pirates?], folks could exercise the right of self-defense.  But never should we indulge in individual acts of violence, because that would be, you know, wrong.  We must also welcome those Muslims we know, and not befriend 'em on false pretenses.  This imples, of course, that we not lie to 'em about the simple facts of our history, or the simple deception at the heart of their confession.  Nor, for that matter, should we expect 'em to lie to us, to hold back to spare our fine feelings. 
     In short, we must grow up, all of us, and boldly confess the Truth, taking all the risks that implies.  The least interesting response to any assertion of Truth is hurt feelings and offense.  Argue, accept conflict, and don't look to any kind of procedural neutrality or authoritarian order to ameliorate it.  Finally, let us pray that we who claim to be Christians might spend our days in peace and repentance, praying for our enemies that they might become our friends, and reaching out in love to those we fear, all for the sake of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of the living God, who trampled down death by death for the life of the world.