Too Dangerous a Historical Debate

Mohammed_receiving_revelation_from_the_angel_GabrielWriting in the Guardian, Nick Cohen on self-censorship:

Unless we find the courage to overcome fear, the self-censorship will spread, and not only in the media.

Colleagues who wanted historians at a London museum to talk about the long history of depictions of Muhammad in Islamic art last week were met with panicking press officers trying to shut them up. Historian Tom Holland, who received death threats after he challenged the creation myths of Islam, said: “I cannot think of any other area of history where debate is so nervous.” He hopes that historians will continue to say that the Koran was a manmade creation, but doubts that journalists will be keen to take their work to the public.

This is not a small capitulation. In the 19th century, the textual criticism of German scholars revealed that the supposed word of God in the Bible was a mess of competing stories. It did as much damage to Christianity and Judaism as Darwinism. Anyone hoping to repeat the exercise by taking apart the Koran and the hadiths today will be restrained by the fear that they will end up as dead as satirists who try to do the same with anti-clerical humour.

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2 Responses to Too Dangerous a Historical Debate

  1. Narr says:

    I’ve been thinking of creating an image of satan, with the caption–

    “This is not an image of Mohammed the Prophet. It is an image of Allah.”

    Just in time for the American Atheists meeting in my hometown soon.

    Narr

  2. Narr says:

    Wow, I go away for a few days and come back to no activity at all. Way to shut a discussion down, Narr.

    Narr

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