In 1988 a young Indian-British author named Salman Rushdie published his fourth book entitled, “The Satanic Verses.” The book was a novel regarding the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and it was very popular in the British Isles- winning the prestigious Whitbread Award for novel of the year. Its literary accolades notwithstanding, the book was not well-received by the Muslim community; they saw it as blasphemous regarding the prophet.
The so-called, “Satanic Verses” are passages in the Quran that speak of venerating - in addition to Allah - three pagan goddesses. Religious historians suggest that Muhammad included these verses to appease the city elders in Mecca who didn’t like the prophet’s rejection of these popular (and profitable) deities. When Muhammad was roundly criticized by his followers for hypocrisy he claimed that Satan had deceived him into writing these verses - hence the designation “The Satanic Verses.”
So offensive to Islamic Fundamentalists was the book that the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader of Iran and a Shi'ite Muslim scholar, issued a fatwa calling on all good Muslims to kill Rushdie and his publishers. Rushdie went into hiding. Publishers across the globe were incensed, and they denounced this religious terrorism and censorship.
Apparently the outrage didn’t run very deep or yield any defiant conviction. “The Jewel of Medina”, a debut novel by the US journalist Sherry Jones, was due to have been published last week, and Random House, which had reportedly paid Jones a £50,000 advance for two books, had scheduled an eight-city publicity tour. But in May, the publisher abruptly informed her that all plans were now off. Why? Thomas Perry, the deputy publisher of Random House, said the company had received "cautionary advice" that the book's publication "might be offensive to some in the Muslim community.” As a result Random House decided to "postpone" publication, he said, "for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel". As Yogi Berra once famously quipped, “This is like deja vu all over again.”
But apparently Random House’s religious “sensitivity” only kicks into gear when there is a threat of perceived violence against them. In 2007 Random House published the first of atheist Philip Pullman's “Dark Materials” trilogy - of which “The Golden Compass” is the first novel. The trilogy features an ex-nun who describes Christianity as “a very powerful and convincing mistake.” The story is ultimately about the “killing” of the Christian God and the end of religion. With the debut of the big-screen version starring Nicole Kidman, Random House reported a surge in sales. Apparently “The Golden Compass” has sold over 3.5 million copies in the US to date, and the trilogy has sold over 7 million copies.
It doesn’t take a Rocket Scientist to see the hypocrisy. Comedian Dennis Miller said the only religion that is always in open season is Christianity. You can ridicule, oppress, persecute, and make fun of Christianity because Christians won’t go mafia on you if you do. Ironically Christianity and Islam hold many similar moral positions, but you won’t hear much criticism of Islam in the mainstream media. Islam consistently gets a pass while Christianity becomes fodder for sitcom writers and late-night comedians. And occasionally books that demean the Christian Faith not only get published, they get made into movies, and there is no attempt to hide the hypocrisy.
The solution is not that Christians began waging their own jihad; Jesus told us that the world would hate us - such is the nature of the animosity that exists between the world and the church. Rather, we remain hopeful and prayerful that God would enable us to persevere faithfully to the end when every knee will bow to the Lord of Glory.
Another old saying tells us that “the enemy of our enemy is our friend.” And nowhere is this more clearly displayed than by the fact that while the world hates, they hate us worse than those who will do them more harm than we ever could. Without God all that there is is arbitrariness and inconsistency; or, better yet, the world apart from the Christian God is a “random house.”
Features
Random House Publishing: The name says it all
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