Who is offending the Muslim religion?

The outrage amongst Muslims against the cartoons depicting their prophet is a smokescreen. It's hiding the real offence, which has been carried out not by the European press but by the terrorists who blow up the innocent in the name of their faith.

Britain and America are engaged in a war in Iraq that displeases many people in the west. Some sections of the media are expressing the outrage that their readers and viewers feel in cartoons and editorial. Others have investigated the intelligence on which the attacks on Saddam Hussein were based and found it to be seriously flawed. The British government attacked the BBC for broadcasting their early findings which led to the suicide of a of a civil servant, the resignation of the corporation's chairman and the sacking of its director general, Greg Dyke. None of those sacrifices went one inch towards justifying the war in Iraq. It was a smokescreen. The air cleared and a further investigation by Lord Butler showed among other things how close the BBC had been to the truth.

Cartoons lampooning our political leaders have abounded, and there is no doubt that had the war been launched in the name of Christ, he too would have appeared in those cartoons. And rightly so. Many in the west are telling their leaders in no uncertain terms that they are offended by the war and embarrassed to be identified with a government that supports it.

So what will the protests of the Muslim communities achieve? One thing is certain. They will make not one iota of difference to the bombers who destroy lives in the name of their religion, except to add fuel to the fire and to ennoble other extremists to join them. The moderate and genuine Muslims often remind us that Islam is a religion of peace. If that is so, why is their outrage not directed at those who kill and maim in the name of Islam. Let their anger be turned inwards on those of their own faith to cease from war.

The cartoons are offensive. Every faith has the right to defend it's holy prophets from ridicule, but the cartoons are telling the Muslims just how terrible are the actions of the terrorists and how much their prophet has been defamed by them. Don't shoot the messenger, listen to them, be offended and act against the bombers who bring your religion into disrepute. If you fail to heed them, other messages will follow. They will also offend and be justified.

Nothing I can do

"There is nothing you can do today to make God love you more"
This thought leapt out from the radio speaker and lodged in my mind early this week. Later I was in an Alpha group watching Nicky Gumbell on DVD talking about Jesus dying on the cross. I realised that God has already given us everything - all of his love - how could I have ever imagined that I might be able to coax a little more out him by some pathetic effort of my own.
One way of testing the truth of little sayings like this one is to see if the converse is also true. There is nothing you can do today can make God love you less. I think that's pretty profound too.
So having sorted out that God loves me I can put my pathetic effort into doing something where I can make a difference.