The blasphemous teddy bear

By now the whole world has heard about the blasphemous teddy bear. Because some Mohammadan schoolchildren wanted to name their mascot after Muhammad, the schoolmarm is facing punishment for defaming “the Prophet.”

Mohammedans suffer from a chronic PR problem. A few years ago, the cause celèbre was a beauty pageant. When a participant suggested that Muhammad would approve, since he had an eye for women, murder and mayhem ensued. And this is despite the fact that, according to Islamic history, Muhammad was, indeed, a womanizer.

What’s ironic about all this is that Mohammedans accuse Christians of idolatry because we worship Jesus. Of course, we have a good reason to worship Jesus—he is God Incarnate.

But, in the meantime, Mohammedans idolize Muhammad. Indeed, they resent being called Mohammedans, but that’s exactly how they act.

The reason for this is that Allah is so remote that they can’t relate to him. Technically, Allah is a personal agent. But because he’s so inscrutable and unapproachable, he’s indistinguishable from fate or a force of nature. Allah is like a natural disaster: indifferent, deadly, and unpredictable. Where will he strike next?

So, as a practical matter, Allah fades into an ultimately impersonal absolute. And no one can relate to an impersonal absolute. So, by default, Mohammedans identify with Muhammad. He becomes their personal absolute.

Indeed, Muhammad is a surrogate Christ. They deny the Incarnation, and yet they act as if Muhammad is Allah Incarnate. His person is sacrosanct. His every deed is worthy of emulation. In a sense, Mohammedans are crypto-Christians without the benefit of saving faith.

Even apart from the Incarnation, Yahweh is far more approachable than Allah. The Incarnation doesn’t make an otherwise unapproachable God approachable. Yahweh is predictable. He’s a covenant-keeping God. A God who makes promises, and keeps his promises. A God who foreordains and then foretells his own actions. This is before we even arrive at the manger.