Mark Steel An Open Letter
Dear Mark Steel,
I read your recent piece on the Pope. 'If you think Islam is medieval, look at Catholicism.' At a time when real clerical bullying and medieval thinking has astonishingly again become a serious threat to freedom of speech and an open society, oddly you choose only to attack the sillier doctrines of the Catholic Church. (And for the record who wouldn't feel queasy about the outpourings of Mr Ratzinger).
However I could not help but ponder why you chose this target at a time when woman are being stoned in Bazra for being inappropriately dressed, or a teacher is sentenced to death in Afghanistan for downloading an article critical of Islam, and protesters think it legitimate criticism to carry placards stating 'behead those who insult Islam!' If your purpose was to attack medieval thinking, there were surely far more obvious targets?
Well, it occurred to me, for one thing you can certainly be sure there will not be any 'fatwa's' emanating from Rome, no death threats from the pulpits of Catholic churches, no need for police protection for you. However perhaps such thoughts were unworthy. So I checked your record when medieval thinking really posed a threat to the free debate, to the so called Danish Cartoons issue. Sure enough there you are on the side of the bigots quoted approvingly by 'Islamaphobia Watch', a website that once declared Polly Toynbee to be the greatest 'islamaphobe' in the UK!
So go ahead kick the Pope at the same time have a go at the Mormons and the far right American Evangelicals, I am sure there is lots of fun to be had there, but don't please pretend that your stance is progressive or iconoclastic. Your supposed radicalism here is a pose designed to curry favour with those you seek to appease.
Alex
I read your recent piece on the Pope. 'If you think Islam is medieval, look at Catholicism.' At a time when real clerical bullying and medieval thinking has astonishingly again become a serious threat to freedom of speech and an open society, oddly you choose only to attack the sillier doctrines of the Catholic Church. (And for the record who wouldn't feel queasy about the outpourings of Mr Ratzinger).
However I could not help but ponder why you chose this target at a time when woman are being stoned in Bazra for being inappropriately dressed, or a teacher is sentenced to death in Afghanistan for downloading an article critical of Islam, and protesters think it legitimate criticism to carry placards stating 'behead those who insult Islam!' If your purpose was to attack medieval thinking, there were surely far more obvious targets?
Well, it occurred to me, for one thing you can certainly be sure there will not be any 'fatwa's' emanating from Rome, no death threats from the pulpits of Catholic churches, no need for police protection for you. However perhaps such thoughts were unworthy. So I checked your record when medieval thinking really posed a threat to the free debate, to the so called Danish Cartoons issue. Sure enough there you are on the side of the bigots quoted approvingly by 'Islamaphobia Watch', a website that once declared Polly Toynbee to be the greatest 'islamaphobe' in the UK!
So go ahead kick the Pope at the same time have a go at the Mormons and the far right American Evangelicals, I am sure there is lots of fun to be had there, but don't please pretend that your stance is progressive or iconoclastic. Your supposed radicalism here is a pose designed to curry favour with those you seek to appease.
Alex
