'The Satanic Verses' was denied the ordinary life of a novel. It became something smaller and uglier: an insult.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
When I was writing 'The Satanic Verses,' if you had asked me about the phenomenon that we all now know as radical Islam, I wouldn't have had much to say. As recently as the mid-1980s, it didn't seem to be a big deal.
The Bible is full of warnings about false prophets and false messiahs. These satanically inspired people have appeared in almost every generation of history.
A bad book is the worse that it cannot repent. It has not been the devil's policy to keep the masses of mankind in ignorance; but finding that they will read, he is doing all in his power to poison their books.
Sometimes, an inability to believe in Satan reflects a larger inability to believe in a spiritual plane at all.
A denial of the reality of demonical possessions on the part of anyone who believes the Gospel narrative to be true and inspired may justly be regarded as simply and plainly inconceivable.
To me, Satan ultimately represents rebellion.
I'd read 'Paradise Lost' as an undergrad at university but remembered little about it. No, not true: I remembered few details, but carried with me with the persuasive arguments and pitiable dilemma of its arguable protagonist, Satan.
The whole concept of the devil is a metaphor on one level.
God's truth judges created things out of love, and Satan's truth judges them out of envy and hatred.
An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.