Really, this is all the Muslim world has to worry about?

The depiction of the prophet Mohammad in a cartoon in a Denmark newspaper has resulted in unrest throughout Muslim countries and communities. The tension was fueled when other countries throughout the European Union reprinted the cartoon in a show of support for free speech. Jeff and I talked about this issue a few weeks ago when it first surfaced, and I expressed my support for the newspaper. I still feel that way, if not even more so, today.

Denmark is a democratic country where the right to free speech is guaranteed. Political cartoons are the bastion of free speech in many democratic countries. Political, cultural, and religious leaders regularly fall under attack--often rightly so, sometimes questionably so. Those living in the countries where these cartoons are appearing have the right to read or not to read, to be amused or to be outraged. Freedom. That's how a democracy works.

Some say that the cartoons in question aren't protected under freedom of speech because they incite hate. Perhaps in some people, they do, but I don't believe that was their intent. The face Islam is showing to the world in the past few years has not been a pretty or likeable face. While there are millions of peaceful Muslims, there are also many commandeering the religion and using it to carry out violence. Many Islamic organizations (The Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Al-Quaeda, etc) are also terrorist organizations. They themselves call upon Mohammad as they carry out their murderous program and claim that this is the type of jihad that he wanted. So why then is it so wrong for a non-Muslim country to depict him that way? Double standards.

And while I understand that it is against their religion to depict Mohammad, the people who depicted him aren't Muslims, and thus aren't bound by those rules. Perhaps, it's not in good taste, but neither are the frequent depictions of Jesus in comics and cartoons. Blasphemy is against the rules of Christianity, but it still happens and it happens frequently.

The Muslim countries and communities around the world have the right to be angry. But they don't have the right to threaten to kidnap, harm, or kill others because they don't like what's in a democratic country's comics. They are also wrong in demanding that the comic strip authors and editors be put on trial. These people did not break any of the laws of the country in which they live. They simply asserted their democratic right to free speech. In Islamic countries, Muslims can enforce their will, but they cannot tell the entire world how to behave.

While I like to be hopeful about world peace and the like, I'm becoming increasingly exasperated with that part of the world. Right now, I kind of wish there was a way to just seal them off from the rest of the world and let them go about their business blowing each other up, enforcing death penalties for minor crimes, and stampeding each other during religious festivals. Not very PC of me, I know, but how I feel right now.