Rushdie Might Have Thought Twice

By George Thompson

"Religion is a great force—the only real motive force in the world; but what you fellows don't understand is that you must get at a man through his own religion and not through yours.

—George Bernard Shaw

Salman Rushdie probably never read George Bernard Shaw's play, "Getting Married." If he had, he might have thought twice about writing The Satanic Verses. But, then again, maybe he did.

Maybe he knew precisely what he was doing. That would mean, of course, that he knew what the reaction would be if he mentioned Mohammed and Satan in the same breath—let alone in a book.

An ex-Muslim, he certainly was aware of the fact that a billion people believe Islam's founder to be the "Messenger of God. " Pious Muslims in many parts of the world speak the words, "May peace be upon him," when mentioning Mohammed's name. English translations of Arabic and Farsi writings often use the initials, "PBUH," when his name appears.

There never has been a less prudent time than now to criticize any religion, let alone its founder. Religious rivalries are exacerbated by the rise of fundamentalism throughout the world—including the United States.

There never has been a less prudent time than now to criticize any religion, let alone its founder. Religious rivalries are exacerbated by the rise of fundamentalism throughout the world—including the United States. Not a day goes by without viewers, listeners, and readers being deluged by media reports of continuing strife between feuding faiths.

The list is long of those who still shed blood in the fight for men's souls: Catholic vs. Protestant, Shinto vs. Buddhist, Sikh vs. Hindu, animist vs. Muslim, Shi'ite vs. Sunni, and Jew vs. both.

In this increasingly materialistic world where more have less, it isn't hard to feel compassion for a religious man when his tenacious hold on what he perceives to be reality is shaken.

Neither is it hard to understand why or how someone like the Ayatollah Khomeini would use an event like Rushdie's book to tighten his hold over the faithful.

Finally, it also isn't hard to understand why impoverished peoples in such religiously driven countries as Iran and Pakistan resort to violence when opportunistic leaders spur them on.

Use of religion by mentors as a means to political or economic ends is not confined to Islam alone. The heinous practice also is shared by fundamentalist Christians and Zionist Jews in the United States who are not above issuing clarion calls to the faithful for whatever rhyme or reason.

Witness the hullabaloo that resulted from the release of Hollywood's "The Last Temptation of Christ." Pulpits across the nation rocked with righteous indignation about what many preachers called "that blasphemous film" often without ever having seen it.

There is little need to outline in detail to readers of this magazine the one sided "hear-see-speak-no-evil" of Israel by Zionist Jews.

Such is the hypocrisy of man's penchant for—in Shaw's words—"getting at a man through his own religion. . . . "

George Thompson, a retired Foreign Service officer, is a nationally syndicated columnist and television talk show host.