May 7, 2010

"As it turns out, no, you cannot draw depictions of Muhammad in Madison."

"At least, not without having them immediately changed to pictures of Muhammad Ali, and not without having them censored the next day. Let's imagine an alternate universe. Let's say the drawings were never tampered with, but instead were met with nothing more than shrugged shoulders and public admonishment for our childish behavior. In this scenario the egg would be on our faces. Instead, suffice it to say that our point has been proven. The right to criticize religion and perform blasphemous acts needs to be defended more than ever."

Say the UW-Madison Atheists, Humanists & Agnostics. Via Jack Craver)

(Here's my position on the Mohammad-drawing protest.)

11 comments:

Lincolntf said...

Yes, you CAN draw pictures of Mohammed in Madison. Just need more people with the courage to do it. Any Right, even one as seemingly inconsequential as the Right to draw a chalk stick figure, atrophies if not exercised.
Use it or lose it, Wisconsin.

garage mahal said...

"As it turns out, no, you cannot draw depictions of Muhammad in Madison."

Actually I think his blog [with pictures] proves you can, but others are free to embellish them. I don't know what this experiment proves, I bet if you drew depictions of anything on a busy campus sidewalk some jokers will have fun with it.

Revenant said...

While I would normally be the first to leap to the defense of atheists who criticize Islam, this guy's argument seems weak. They drew stick figures! If I saw that, I'd assume it was a joke and feel free to add my own humor to it.

If they'd drawn a serious picture of Mohammad and the pictures had been defaced, or if they'd put the pictures up on a bulletin board instead of on a sidewalk, they'd have a much stronger case for censorship.

pm317 said...

There were atheists called Charvakas in the 1st millennium BC in India. Amartya Sen in his book "The Argumentative Indian", says this about the group (single quotes indicate the quotes from that group):

"In addition to the denial of God, there is also a rejection of soul, and an assertion of the material basis of the mind:
‘ [from these material elements] alone, when transformed into the body, intelligence is produced, just as the inebriating power is developed from the mixing of certain ingredients; and when these are destroyed, intelligence at once perishes also.’

Along with these radical beliefs about the nature of life and mind, there is also a philosophy of value, which concentrates on identifiable pleasure, not any ‘happiness in a future world’. There is recurrent advice on how to live: 'While life is yours, live joyously!’ There is also an acrid and cynical explanation of the cultivated survival of religious illusions among people: `There is no heaven, no final liberation, nor any soul in another world… it is only as a means of livelihood that Brahmins have established here all the ceremonies for the dead — there is no other fruit anywhere.’ "

paul a'barge said...

m'kay.

Draw Mohammed Day, here we come. Be there or be square.

Rialby said...
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Rialby said...
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A.G. said...

Why didn't the AHA blog say anything about the Madison student who was beheaded minutes after drawing the stick figures?

Chip Ahoy said...

Once a picture of Muhammad is drawn it is against sacred law to remove it because once drawn, even a cartoon, it automatically becomes a sacred image and to remove it or paint over it, or mar it in any way is a disrespect to Muhammad, and I WILL KILL ANYBODY WHO DOES! Now, shake in your boots you shivering chickens.

Albatross said...

Yes, you CAN draw pictures of Mohammed. You just need to be a "real" artist to do it.

Methadras said...

Fuck Mohammed and everything that sub-human pile of shit stood for. And his moon god worshipers can follow him into hell for all I care.