Bacon Lady's Actions Not Kosher
I stumbled across a video by a woman who has been called "the bacon lady."
The woman is reading some troubling verses from the Qur'an and commenting on them.
I have no trouble with that. It's fair game to cite what's been written in a debate/discussion.
I do have two cautions about that sort of thing, though.
First, I checked some of her citations in a copy of the Qur'an I borrowed from the library. The copy I consulted had different translations of the verses she cited - less troubling ones. Not being an expert on the original language, I don't know what version is the more accurate translation.
Second, verses taken in isolation can be misunderstood. Was the intention symbolic? Was it hyperbole? Was it culturally based? I don't know. Imagine how a non-Christian might interpret Jesus' admonition to pluck out one's eye, for example, not realizing he did not mean it literally.
Still, citing passages as she did is still acceptable.
But then she tore pages out of the Qur'an and burned them. That was provocative and disrespectful - not worthy of a Christian.
Even worse, she used slices of raw bacon as her bookmarks. Given the Muslim views on pork, that was offensive.
Sadly, one site I went to that promoted her video "proudly" and described her as a "Catholic" - indeed, a "Tridentine Catholic."
That's embarrassing.
Debate the issues. Cite the Qur'an to reveal things about that faith - fine. That's in keeping with Catholic/Christian behavior.
But burning the pages and using bacon in that way was simply not in keeping with what the Church teaches.
Such actions make Catholics - Tridentine Catholics - look bad.
The woman is reading some troubling verses from the Qur'an and commenting on them.
I have no trouble with that. It's fair game to cite what's been written in a debate/discussion.
I do have two cautions about that sort of thing, though.
First, I checked some of her citations in a copy of the Qur'an I borrowed from the library. The copy I consulted had different translations of the verses she cited - less troubling ones. Not being an expert on the original language, I don't know what version is the more accurate translation.
Second, verses taken in isolation can be misunderstood. Was the intention symbolic? Was it hyperbole? Was it culturally based? I don't know. Imagine how a non-Christian might interpret Jesus' admonition to pluck out one's eye, for example, not realizing he did not mean it literally.
Still, citing passages as she did is still acceptable.
But then she tore pages out of the Qur'an and burned them. That was provocative and disrespectful - not worthy of a Christian.
Even worse, she used slices of raw bacon as her bookmarks. Given the Muslim views on pork, that was offensive.
Sadly, one site I went to that promoted her video "proudly" and described her as a "Catholic" - indeed, a "Tridentine Catholic."
That's embarrassing.
Debate the issues. Cite the Qur'an to reveal things about that faith - fine. That's in keeping with Catholic/Christian behavior.
But burning the pages and using bacon in that way was simply not in keeping with what the Church teaches.
Such actions make Catholics - Tridentine Catholics - look bad.
posted by A Secular Franciscan | 12:30 PM
4 Comments:
I'm not aware of anything like "bible.net" for the Qu'arn, but USC has three translations on-line (http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/quran/). It's a little difficult, having three versions of every verse, but better than nothin'
At any rate, even assuming what's in the Qu'arn is "SOP" for Muslims is kind of ignorant. Islam, like Christianity, includes an awful lot of variations, not all of whom use simply The Book as the source of all practices (Catholics certainly don't and never did). There are Christians who believe the Bible was written in English (and only use specific translations), which even they don't follow in its entirety. I read the Qu'arn years ago (don't test me on it), but in an "interpretation", the translator (with the wonderful name of Sir Marmaduke Mohammed Pickering) being a 19th century British colonial officer in India who "went native" and converted to a sect that held that only the Qu'arn in Arabic was canonical.
One admirable thing about Catholicism is the recognition that "implacable ignorance" is a sin... and, alas, your "Bacon Lady" is implacably ignorant... she is intelligent enough to read, but stupid by choice. And ill-mannered (a much more grievous sin in my book) enough to share her stupidity with the rest of the world.
The fact that she said "Tridentine Catholic" implies that she's gone schismatic, i.e. SSPX/SSPV. It's a shame that most people won't realize the difference between a Catholic in good standing (no matter what Rite or Form she prefers) and a Catholic who has excommunicated herself because of her closed-mindedness and hostility.
Point of clarification Gen - it was a Catholic news aggregator site that identified her as a Tridentine Castholic, not the woman herself.
I later found an interview with her in which she said she attended pre-Vatican II Tridentine Masses.
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