SAnother Koran burned in Stockholm. The same Zündler, an Iraqi refugee, had trampled on the Holy Scriptures of Islam before, ripping out pages, squeezing bacon between the lids. In Denmark, it was right-wing extremists who set the Koran on fire. A video shows how a woman tries to snatch the book from them and is then wrestled to the ground by men with the words “Fuck Islam” written on their backs. The police who intervened finally gave the Koran back to the neo-Nazis.
The Islamic world reacted with outrage, but in Scandinavia they only shrug their shoulders regretfully: Not nice, but that’s just freedom of expression. That’s what you read in the editorials of Swedish daily newspapers, and that’s what the Swedish prime minister has said again and again. “Not everything that is legal is appropriate,” warned Ulf Kristersson. But in the end it’s all about “defending our free and open societies”. And Jens Stoltenberg, himself Norwegian, but as NATO chief concerned that Erdogan would still deny the Swedes access to the alliance, said: He doesn’t like these protests. “But I defend the right to disagree.”
That sounds good and right, especially given the images from Baghdad, where a mob stormed the Swedish embassy. Who would not want to defend our liberal societies from such zealots? Don’t you know the self-appointed avengers of the Islamic prophet? Don’t you still have the terror in your limbs because of their terrible deeds here in Europe?
In 2004, a fanatic murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh for showing the bodies of abuse victims in a film, described with suras from the Koran. In 2012, Islamists massacred the editorial offices of Charlie Hebdo over a couple of cartoons of Mohammed. In 2020, an Islamist beheaded French teacher Samuel Paty for showing those cartoons in class.
Books were also burned in Germany
But burning a Koran in front of a foreign embassy is neither satire nor art. Anyone who kicks Holy Scripture around like a soccer ball with dirty shoes is not criticizing religion, but sowing hatred. Books were also burned in Germany. The Protestant theologian Friedrich Wilhelm Graf recalled this when he said: “When books are burned, there is soon a danger that people will be burned.” In civilized societies, freedom of expression also has limits, and religious minorities are protected from hate speech and riots.
The Swedish government should be a little less considerate of the right-wing populists and a little more of the Muslims in their own country. So far they have protested extremely peacefully against the burning of the Koran.
One of them recently announced that he would burn a Torah and a Bible in front of the Israeli embassy. Then, as the police all stood ready to defend the act of free speech, the man threw the lighter on the ground and left. Of course, he never intended to burn a holy book, he said. “We all live here together and we have to respect each other.” The Swedish government could wish for the same level of sensitivity.
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