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May 7, 2006
Protection from Bad History is Not a Fundamental Human Right
I think Cardinal Francis Arinze is more than a little confused. Reuters reports on what he told a filmmaker concerning how Christians should respond to The Da Vinci Code.
"Christians must not just sit back and say it is enough for us to forgive and to forget," Arinze said in the documentary made by Rome filmmaker Mario Biasetti for Rome Reports, a Catholic film agency specializing in religious affairs."Sometimes it is our duty to do something practical. So it is not I who will tell all Christians what to do but some know legal means which can be taken in order to get the other person to respect the rights of others," Arinze said.
"This is one of the fundamental human rights: that we should be respected, our religious beliefs respected, and our founder Jesus Christ respected," he said, without elaborating on what legal means he had in mind.
[snip]
"Those who blaspheme Christ and get away with it are exploiting the Christian readiness to forgive and to love even those who insult us. There are some other religions which if you insult their founder they will not be just talking. They will make it painfully clear to you," Arinze said. [emphasis added]
If all he meant is that Christians shouldn't go to the movie then I guess I have no real gripe. But he is saying something well beyond this. He is saying that the movie (and presumably the book) violates some kind of human right. But exactly what right is being violated? The right to have your religion and the founder of your religion respected. There is no such human right. While the Cardinal asks Christians to act within the law, his underlying thought process is identical to those who think that they should be protected against cartoons of Mohammad and he clearly knows this, even emphasizes it. I believe that there is a fundamental right to say and think what you will but that right cuts both ways. The Cardinal can think and say what he wants about Jesus and The Da Vinci Code and so can Dan Brown. There is no fundamental right to have one's views protected from ridicule or from humor or, in the case of The Da Vinci Code, from bad and deceptive historical reconstruction.
Posted by Duane Smith at May 7, 2006 10:40 AM | Read more on Religion |
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