“Do not forgive her”, the duo read out to people on the streets.
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However, they were left flabbergasted when the YouTubers revealed that the verses were actually from the Bible and not Quran – which not only reveals that people do not know the difference between the two, but also that their views on Islam are a bit askew. Most people are of the opinion that Islam preaches violence and the terrorist are only following what they are taught.
When the prank is exposed, the reactions are a almost universal WTF and then sheepish embarrassment at having taken the bait. People by and large reacted with a lot of “othering” of Muslims – making remarks like, “If you’ve been raised with this book and these kinds of thoughts, it’s going to influence the way you think”.
These types of demonstrations, instead, show one aspect of religion that’s largely accepted for Christianity and Judaism but not Islam in the West: You get from these faiths what you put into them.
The duo read out some of the text from the Bible such as, “I do not allow for a woman to teach”.
To further explore the question, Spoor and Harland picked up a copy of the Bible and started reading.
“How can anyone believe in this?” said another woman. Another passerby commented saying that the passages seem to be oppressive and force one to believe what “they” want to believe.
“Hearing this, I would think the Quran is more aggressive, especially with things like cutting off people’s hands”, said one man.
The pair owns a YouTube channel, “Dit Is Normaal” where the video has scored a hit.
We now live in turbulent times, when the people are quick to judge against each other, actions are carried out without thought and every day there are a number of news stories on bombings and shootings in the name of religion. There’s just one catch: They’re actually using passages from the Bible. “It’s all just prejudice, really”, said one man after finding out that he had condemned a quote from the Bible.
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One man goes so far as to admit that he tries to be unbiased in life, expressing shame that he could be so easily led by his prejudices.
