CANCELLED: Kid’s Koran (Thanks to… Islam.)

[rug]

I believe in religious freedom – the right for anyone to worship whatever gods they choose to believe in (as long as those beliefs do not infringe on the rights and freedom of others). I also believe in free speech – the power to challenge rational societies into asking important questions. Lastly, I believe in the right to live without fear. Sadly, as is the case with many religions, these concepts are often mutually exclusive.

After a great deal of consideration and wise counsel, I’ve decided to cancel the controversial Kid’s Koran project we’ve been working on and hinting about over the past year that was set to release this fall. Why? Because of a small group of fringe maniacal “radical” bullies who equate the transfer of lead and pigments into shapes on paper as blasphemy – punishable by death. I’m quite unhappy to be forced into making this decision and would like to state emphatically that this project is not being cancelled out of any sort of respect for any irrational ancient religion that threatens to silence critical thinking and/or satirical challenges with death. No, it is being cancelled because of very rational fears brought on by the reality that such threats (and actions) are still carried out today – in 2015 – in the light of day, right under the noses of a modern society!

It has been one thing to receive death threats from Christians over our past books on the Bible, but I’ve never really taken those threats all too seriously as they seem to be mostly the blusterings of a religious majority that has gotten used to bullying minorities of all types. However, I’ll admit – I do take the threats from militant/fundamentalist/radical Islamic fundamentalists much more seriously. For someone who spends a large amount of time illustrating and speaking about the challenges posed by religion, I don’t thinks this makes me a bigot, but a realist, as more and more cartoonists are murdered, threatened, and silenced for good. When the Kid’s Koran was almost complete at the first of the year, our tw0 ex-Muslim contributors/consultants on the project became very concerned over terrorist attacks in their home countries in Europe. So, we paused to think more carefully about security, risks, etc… As we finished the project, more bloggers were being killed overseas and received the first shipment of galley/preview copies the week before the attempted attacks in Texas earlier this month. The events at home suddenly brought the apprehension of my overseas friends into a new perspective. While we might seem paranoid or jumping to conclusions to the average American office worker, the dangers and risks feel quite real, personal, and infuriating to each of us as illustrators, bloggers, and “activists” who are critical of organized religions. At the end of the day, the decision was not mine alone, but a collective choice by all of our families and (few) friends who were aware of the project. The consensus was simple, “Choose your battles wisely and live to fight another day.”

“I think the worst thing you can say about a group in a free society is that you’re afraid to talk about it—I can’t think of anything more horrific.” – Penn Jillette

“Why didn’t I choose to depict Muhammad having sex? The answer is simple: I don’t want to get blown up with explosives. I am afraid of angering Muslims but not afraid of angering Jews and Christians, so I choose to depict the Judeo-Christian God instead. It seems extremely obvious to me, but so many people asked.” - Sarah Silverman

Yes, many people will choose to call me (or Penn or Sarah) a hypocrite for “only challenging the Bible” or a coward for “giving in to the enemy,” (as they use their fake troll profiles to post random existing drawings of Muhammad to show how tough they are). Yet, it’s quite a different matter to publish an entire original book of illustrations that not only questions the teachings of a long-dead prophet and absentee deity, but also challenges the culture of modern Islam today. (Not only did we have an illustration to show how *one* simple childhood activity by a young Muhammad would have kept Islam from ever spreading in the first place, we also had an interactive game at the end of the book that shows how ironically easy it would be to rid the world of Islam today.) At the end of the day, we were actually less worried about the three illustrations of Muhammad than we were the overall concept of western infidels (kafir) having the audacity to critique the Qur’an and/or challenge Islamic culture as a whole.

http://www.awkwardmomentsbible.com/project/kids-koran-cancelled-thanks-islam/

No date but the earliest comment at the link is three days old.

Here's his earlier opus.



http://www.awkwardmomentsbible.com/#

[MisterP]

1. "Horus Gilgamesh"?

[rug]

2. Indeed. And on twitter.

https://twitter.com/HGilgamesh

[MisterP]

8. another fan of Kersey Graves and Alexander Hislop, eh?

wait, aren't those Jack Chick's sources?

[rug]

9. I think you're right.

[Yorktown]

3. I've got a solution: let's call Horus Gilgamesh a hater

If Horus Gilgamesh can be painted as a Pamela Geller, the threat of violent Islam vanishes.

And we all get to live in a happy world where all believers are nice and cuddly forever after.

Good idea, isn't it? PS: the Charlie Hebdo team was a bunch of racists.

[AtheistCrusader]

4. That reminds me, I haven't seen NYC_SKP in a while...

[cleanhippie]

5. Bwahahahahahahahaha!

[AtheistCrusader]

6. Did I seriously post that just a few hours before his PPR?

Because that rules.

[cleanhippie]

7. I think you did.

And that definitely does!