Anglican leaders across the Communion have spoken out about The Innocence of Muslims, a film containing anti-Islam content which has so far triggered protests, violence and death in countries like Libya and Egypt.
Both Anglican and Catholic Archbishops in New Zealand have condemned the film, its message and its promotion, alongside the Federation of Islamic Associations President and the city of Wellington’s Regional Jewish Council Chairperson, Race Relations Commissioner and local Bishops.
According to Anglican Taonga magazine, the group labelled the film (which openly defames the Islamic prophet Muhammad) as “irresponsible” and “inflammatory”, saying it was dishonestly made and presented, and designed to mislead, provoke hate, and cause harm.
It doesn’t seem irresponsible to me. It seems stupid and sophomoric. The irresponsible ones are the people who take it–and themselves–way too seriously. And in the process they have given an amateurish attempt at scatological humor a giant publicity boost. Shame on our government leaders and our Anglican leaders for giving it any attention at all. Now that they have set this precedent, I suppose they will need to monitor YouTube 24/7 to make sure some idiot hasn’t posted another puerile jab at religion.
The Anglican leaders seem to have bought into the notion that the film caused the violence. Recent evidence suggests that the attacks were carefully planned and carried out by terrorists.