Rushdie very eloquent about all writing as a seeking of the transcendant. Power held in the hands of theocrats denies people the discussion of the transcendant, as all belief is reduced to fundamentals as defined by the theocrats.
Rushdie typifies as "cowardice" the refusal of bookstores to carry a magazine with reproductions of the Danish cartoons that centered on Mohammed. Intimidation by radical factions of fundamentalists prevents open discussion of ideas.
Rushdie says we are in a battle of wills between fundamental theocrats and freedom. "Liberty of speech must always take precedence" over all other law.
Rushdie thinks that western democracies desire to appease fundamentalists rather than take them on; cartoons always insult someone. "What kind of God is it that is upset by a cartoon in Danish?"
"A purpose of our lives is to understand ... what we can say... to push outwards against the frontiers ... of acceptable frontiers." "We should not bow the knee to man or God."
Religion was marginalized in the 60s: Time magazine's cover "God is dead." Religion had gone into private life "where it belongs."
Moyers: Political religion has become an item used in combat in the US. Rushdie agrees that in other countries like India, radical Hinduism has become violent. Founders of India felt that secularization was essential, to keep various religious factions from warring.
Rushdie: Rise of radical Islam lies at the feet of the failure of secular rulers like the Shah. Growth of religious intolerance comes from failure of secularism.
People who offer a vision -- King, Ghandi -- are prophetic [Moyers]. Sometimes political visions form a valid future, often they don't. Religion looks for eternal truths, politicians look for power, and the mixture forms radical religious intolerance.
Rushdie: all sense of ourselves beyond the present is in terms of God; we have no other language of transcendant, what is not material. As a novelist, it is "stupid" to try to describe such feelings without invoking a deity. If your characters are religious, you have to deal with God.
Rushdie: Aetheists are obsessed with God. "Thank God I died an aetheist" -- Spanish filmmaker. Religion allows us to find solace, to build masterpieces of cathedrals. It is also a "poison of the blood." Religion at its best gives profound solace; at its worst, it murders people.
Moyers: what tips the balance in religion between saving and killing? Rushdie: religion provides many aspects. Satisfies needs of people who feel inadequate, as wounded creatures.
Moyers: more Gods per capita in India than anywhere else. Rushdie: miraculous exists with the mundane, you can bump into a god in the street. One believes in the efficacy of a particular god for a particular need. Rushdie's grandfather was a devout Muslim, and tolerant and open-minded. He represents a model for Rushdie. His grandchildren were not so religious, but he was tolerant.
Rushdie: Speaking to devout audiences provides a rigorous hearing. The world should be a place where people despite fiercely from well-thought-out positions. Aetheists are seen by fundamentalists as persons without a moral center defended by an ultimate arbiter God. Religion has been one of the ways in which humans have tried to codify their moral sense of the world. But moral sense creates the need for religion, not vice versa. There is an intrinsic need for the expression of right and wrong which religion satisfies.
Relativism is a dangerous slope on which we can slide. Is it OK to let a culture stone its women for adultery because "it's their culture"?
We are hardwired with an instinct for knowing right from wrong, and morality is what we call that instinct. Religion follows that instinct. Rushdie thinks that democracy allows an ultimate arbiter without a god. Items such as suffrage, slavery, etc., are settled by the freedom granted by democracy.
9/11 was a "hinge" moment because it shows that we are inescapably interconnected with other societies. We cannot return to Fortress America. We really have to deal with each other.
Mutual incomprehension between west and rest of world. Morbid symptoms like intolerance arise because of it. Writers can contribute to diminishing the incomprehension, and do it imaginatively. Radical fundamentalism will be defeated when ordinary Islam comes to reject that they are defined by the Mullahs and Ayatollahs and other extremists. When the Catholics of Northern Ireland became disenchanted with the IRA, then there were peace talks and the beginnings of a resolution.
America's enormous power no longer insulates us from terror. England learned to accept the occasional terrorist act, and refused to let it change their lives. The answer to terrorism is not to be terrified by it.
