JEDDAH, 10 April 2008 — A Saudi blogger has made a six-minute video entitled "Schism" by portraying texts from Christian sources out of context, similar to the way Dutch MP Geert Wilders made his recently-released anti-Qur'an film entitled "Fitna."
In his film, Raid Al-Saeed, 33, shows verses of the Bible that call for war and illustrated them with clips of extremist Christian groups that preach violence.
"I made it in less than 24 hours. In 'Schism,' I have used the same methodology that Wilders has used and that involves taking texts out of context," he told Arab News, adding that he made the film to prove that it is incorrect to judge Islam by watching "Fitna."
This is a point that he writes at the end of his short film. "It is easy to take part of any holy book out of context and make it sound like an inhumane book. This is what Geert Wilders did to gather supporters for his hateful ideology. To create 'Schism,'" he wrote.
Al-Saeed does not believe religious books call for violence and bloodshed. He said "Fitna" is "based on hate" and that Wilders has abused the "freedom of expression that he enjoys." He added that Wilders' movie reflects "his racism and hatred."
When Al-Saeed first posted his clip on YouTube on March 1, the video was removed within 12 hours with a message from the site that the clip violated its terms.
Al-Saeed wrote back to YouTube, asking why the movie was removed while "Fitna" remained available. He uploaded the film again and added a message for the site's administrators advising them to view Wilders' film before deleting the film.
His video has been viewed over 1,800 times and has been on YouTube since March 2. It is also available for viewing on Google.
Al-Saeed insists that his aim is not to spread hate but to tell the world that you cannot judge a religion or an ideology by taking things out of context.
