Hostages

In November I present my new book ‘49:49, The Emperor’s rags’ and paintings by me, in particular a portrait of the woman to whom I dedicate the book: Dorothy Milne Murdock (1960-2015).

Update: now available in the bookshop.

From the two concept texts below you can see what my approach was when writing this book.

Signing up for the purchase of the book (with priority and discount for early decision-makers) will be possible from the beginning of October 2024.

Belief in gods: an absolutely inalienable right

It is crucial to fully realise what “inalienable” means exactly: this right cannot be effectively taken away from anyone.

It is not a right that you as an individual did or did not “receive” from governments, judges, high or low priests, from officials, or that you inherited that right from your ancestors who received it from kings, dukes or other robber knights.

The right to hope of every individual (whatever kind) and to fear, pessimism, anger or optimism is also inalienable. Neither legislation nor any other activity of any government has any hold on this.

And no matter how powerful, alive and valuable your image of your own god is, it is your image. No one can take that image away from you.

Beware of anyone who claims or even suggests that they know your god, goddess or gods better than you do yourself. The more you distance yourself from your own deity or deities, the more space you give others to use him, her or them for another purpose.

Distrust anyone who claims to know the same god as you: how did that other person study your god? And the god of hundreds or millions of others?

Beware of men who pretend to be spokesmen for one or more gods because of arguments they have read or otherwise collected from distant lands and/or from a distant past.

Distrust every professional believer: neither prophet nor priest, bishop nor bearded man, cardinal nor caliph.And really most importantly: do not pay too much attention to what ‘religious role models’ in the past might have said. Please concentrate on how these men, as far as we can still tell, behaved towards women and children.

Cowardice and Free Tickets (to a Paradise after life)

Fundamentalist Muslims who want to follow the letter of the Quran in everything pose a great threat to peace, women and girls. That said, I am convinced that literally millions of Muslims absolutely do not want that.

If we include women as people who matter, we are talking about hundreds of millions of people. Yes, the previous sentence was very sarcastic.

And I will go one step further.

I hope that this book will be read by women, including women in Islamic environments.

If the book is more widely distributed, it could contribute to women and girls who read it being punished or even killed.

However, not wanting to distribute the book for that reason would mean nothing more than accepting that hostage-taking. 

It would amount to acknowledging submission to Mohammed and the people who today set themselves up as spokesmen for Mohammed and his god.

Negotiating with hostage-takers is wrong.

Giving in to hostage-takers in advance in order to avoid confrontation is pure cowardice.

As a father of daughters, a grandfather of granddaughters, and a dedicated supporter of LetWomenSpeak, I do not participate in this.

More background information on the book can be found in the almost 40 varied articles in the category 49:49 / Abrahamic Religions.