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Secular Discourse and the Clash of Faiths: ‘The Satanic Verses’ in British Society
Author(s) -
D'Costa Gavin
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
new blackfriars
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1741-2005
pISSN - 0028-4289
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-2005.1990.tb01437.x
Subject(s) - secularism , political science , philosophy , religious studies , law , politics
Let us never believe that the way in which the people in power tell us to look at the world is the only way we can look, because if we do that, then that's a kind of appalling self‐censorship. (Salman Rushdie). In Britain we believe in live and let live … Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists and Rastafarians are all welcome to our tolerant society. But there is only one law for all of us… Those who say their deep religious convictions prevent them from obeying the law of this land should quit Britain immediately and go and live in a country where the conflict does not exist.( Sunday Sport , 19 February, 1989—editorial on Rushdie). So the battle over The Satanic Verses is a clash of faiths, in a way. Or, more precisely, it's a clash of languages. (Salman Rushdie, The Observer , 22 January, 1989).