Queensland lawyer Alex Stewart smokes pages from the Koran and Bible
Posted: September 13, 2010.
Print: Adelaide Now
A BRISBANE-based lawyer and atheist who videoed himself smoking what appeared to be joints made with pages from the Bible and the Koran expects to lose his job at a Queensland university.
In the video, posted on YouTube, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) staffer Alex Stewart compares cigarettes made with pages from the two holy texts.
In the clip, titled “Bible or Koran - which burns best?”, the professed atheist says burning religious books is no big deal and people need to get over it.
“It’s just a f—-ing book,” he says.
“Who cares? It’s your beliefs that matter. Quite frankly, if you are going to get upset about a book, you’re taking life way too seriously.”
But the QUT, which employs Mr Stewart, is not impressed. Vice-chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake said that the university does not support the destruction of religious artefacts.
“The university is obviously extremely, extremely unhappy and disappointed that this sort of incident should occur,” Professor Coaldrake said in Sydney today.
“It may have occurred in the individual’s private time or on a weekend - it doesn’t matter.
“There is always in the community collateral damage to these sorts of things.”
Prof. Coaldrake said Mr Stewart met university management today and has since decided to go on leave for an unspecified period.
Mr Stewart had not been sacked, Prof. Coaldrake said after the Sydney news conference, but the university would review the matter in accordance with its code of conduct.
Mr Stewart, an assistant organiser with a group called Brisbane Atheists, was not at his Brisbane home today but in an earlier message on the group’s website he said he expected to be sacked.
“I’m screwed. I think I will lose my job over this. Damn it,” he wrote.
Yesterday, the president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Ikebal Patel, slammed the video.
“I think it’s highly offensive that he has done this to two of the holiest books in the world,” Mr Patel said.
“It does not in any way add any value to trying to promote world peace and the consideration of different views - especially when there are heightened tensions around the anniversary of September 11 and the Eid el Fitr (end of Ramadan) celebrations.”
However the president of the Islamic Association of Australia, Sheik Muhammad Wahid, said while Mr Stewart’s motives were deeply hurtful to Muslims, his future was for the university to decide.
“We condemn it and our feelings have been hurt by this man,” said Sheik Muhammad Wahid.
“There is no need for this kind of thing, just to create disunity and disharmony among people living in Australia.”
He urged Muslims to turn the other cheek.
“I urge my fellow Muslims to abide by the laws of this country and not take any action which breaks the law,” he said.
“These types of actions should be condemned by the wider community. He must be asked what was his agenda, what was his purpose? Maybe he was not of sound mind at the time.”
Queensland police said they were not investigating the matter.
In the video clip, Mr Stewart - who does not identify himself as a QUT staffer - says the Bible and the Koran are “just books”.
He refers to the furore sparked in the United States by a controversial pastor, who had threatened to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
“With respect to books like the Bible and the Koran, whatever, just get over it,” he says.
“That said, I don’t think it’s completely appropriate unless it’s done for a good purpose, which I’ve done today.”
He gave the Bible a seven out of 10 for its burning qualities, and said it was better than the Koran which left him feeling sick.
As he smokes part of a page from the Koran, he ponders: “I wonder what Mohammed would have thought about this. Is this profanity, is it blasphemy? Does it really matter?”
Mr Stewart has told The Courier-Mail the video was a joke and he does not do drugs. The green substance featured in the video was actually grass clippings, he said.
He defended the stunt, saying basic freedoms, such as freedom of speech, should not be threatened simply because someone might be offended.
Comment was being sought from the Catholic church.
Unfortunately the original video seems to have been taken down and this (annoying) commentary piece is all that seems to be left:
posted on September 13, 2010http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni4Mv33q50Y
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