We all seem to take for granted that millions of Muslims all over the world naturally take to the streets when a couple of obscure Danish cartoonists insult their faith by depicting the prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his hair.
But imagine if Catholics were rioting all over the world about Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code the best-selling thriller that depicts Opus Dei as a dangerous and ruthless force, condoned by the pope, bent on supressing the real truth about Jesus.
Imagine no more. David Aaronovitch has done it for you. “In a parallel universe...”
Cardinal Loopi, of the Office of the Defence of the Faith, condemned the book for defaming Catholicism and, in its suggestion that Jesus Christ was married, of heresy. “We demand that the book be destroyed and that the author be punished,” said Loopi, “otherwise we cannot be held responsible for how Catholics throughout the world may react.”
Quite so. Who could blame those Catholics for expressing their “rage,” as the media likes to say? News items like this would be routine:
Bookseller shot dead in Poland, by teenager shouting: “For God, and the Pope!”
Ten killed in Lisbon Dan Brown riots, when police opened fire on mob ransacking the Canadian Embassy. “We thought he was Canadian,” says riot leader.
It would be comical if it weren’t so serious. Read the whole thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment