for all of those who think this is simply a free speech issue and that muslims are simply backwards when it comes to issues of religion and satire, imagine the fallout if this comic strip was printed in newspapers right before christmas (or "the winter holidays" to really piss off the o'reilly ditto-heads). it's in two panels. the first panel shows jesus sitting at a bar. there is a beer bottle and a shot glass in front of him. he's looking down looking kind of sad. there is garland on top of the mirror behind the bar. through the window you can see snow falling and people hurrying to the fro with packages in their arms. the bartender behind the bar says, "hey jesus...why are you looking so down? tomorrow's your birthday! you should be happy!". in the next panel jesus looks up and responds, "happy? how happy would you be if every year you had to be reminded that you busted your mother's cherry?".

or, how about a one panel comic depicting an orthodox rabbi sitting at a table and in front of him is a baby on a plate with an apple in it's mouth. the rabbi is holding a knife and fork and looks ready to dig in. the caption reads, "christian babies...the other white meat!".

what  would the free speech advocates the be saying then?

there has been a serious ahistorical view coming from "secularized" europe and "religious" usa regarding this issue. in 1985 jean-luc godard released "hail mary" http://imdb.com/title/tt0089366/ . it was a modern retelling of the virgin birth that was highly controversial causing it to be banned in some places and bomb threats being called in to theaters around the world by upset christians. i remember wanting to see the film when it came out and i wasn't able to because the theater showing it withdrew it after one day because of bomb threats! i believe that some theaters were actually bombed in europe! i don't believe it's available on dvd.

how about scorsese's "the last temptation of christ" http://imdb.com/title/tt0095497/ from 1988? same reaction in "secularized" europe and "religious" usa.

i'm sure that there are other examples that i don't remember or haven't heard of.

One thing we now know for certain: Turkey's chances for joining the European Union hasn't improved and it won't get better.

I'm sorry but I think the response of some Muslims to this so-called slander is way over the top.  These folks are acting dangerously and if any of them began acting like that in the town where I live I would want them arrested and put in jail. Maybe I feel this way because I'm not a relgious person. I just think that all this stuff about not depicting the Prophet is simply superstitious nonsense.  Monotheistic religious practices tends to, unfortunately, promote a fatal level of intolerance.

Does the Buddha care about how the Buddha is depicted?

Does the Buddha care about how the Buddha is depicted?

The Dharmakaya is formless.

"The Dharmakaya is formless."

It is also godless ... thank god

Muslims say they oppose depictions of their Prophet to avoid instances of idolatry. Yet their reactions to said depictions or any references to him they deem inappropriate result in orgies of violence and hysteria that resemble the most extreme forms of idol worship. Go figure.

You nailed it , O!  Many Muslims act as if the depiction is the thing itself, which is, at bottom, nothing more than idolatry.  I think this orgy of violence, demonstrations et al. is giving western Europeans an opportunity to look closely at the Muslims in their midst and to come to some uncomfortable conclusions.  You cannot maintain a democratic society with this degree of religious fanaticism threatening to erupt whenever followers of that particular religion feel slighted or even slandered. At a much lower frequency, albeit as deadly at times, we are facing a simiiar threat from some Christian abortion opponents.

"You cannot maintain a democratic society with this degree of religious fanaticism threatening to erupt whenever followers of that particular religion feel slighted or even slandered."

Malcolm delivered these remarks in his famous "The Ballot or the Bullet" speech in Detroit, April 12, 1964. Four decades later his words still enlighten:

Islam is my religion, but I believe my religion is my personal business. It governs my personal life, my personal morals. And my religious philosophy is personal between me and the God in whom I believe; just as the religious philosophy of these others is between them and the God in whom they believe.

And this is best this way. Were we to come out here discussing religion, we’d have too many differences from the outstart and we could never get together. So today, though Islam is my religious philosophy, my political, economic, and social philosophy is Black Nationalism. You and I -- As I say, if we bring up religion we’ll have differences; we’ll have arguments; and we’ll never be able to get together. But if we keep our religion at home, keep our religion in the closet, keep our religion between ourselves and our God, but when we come out here, we have a fight that’s common to all of us against a [sic] enemy who is common to all of us.

As the anniversary of his assassination approaches (February 21, 1965) the magnitude of our loss, rather than ebbing with the passage of time, looms ever larger. 

 

The Ballot or the Bullet Speech


O, your reference to this famous and important speech reminded me, too, of how broad Malcolm's appeal was in the black community. I first heard this speech one Sunday afternoon at the home of an uncle who was married to my mother's sister.  He was and is a middle-class black man, military veteran who worked every day, liked nice clothes and drove a Cadillac.  He was, in Bill Clinton's tortured parlance, someone who played by the rules but he thought then and now that the things Malcom was saying to black people needed to be said and heard. That afternoon my father and I sat in my uncle's living room and listened in rapt attention and silence to Malcolm's speech.

Yes, the magnitude of our subsequent loss still reverberates today.

What does the violence of people in other countries have to do with Muslims in Europe? I've heard some Muslims in Canada wrote a strongly worded letter- should we deport all of Muslims in the US?

If you're asking are Muslims in Europe responsible for the violence that people living in non-Europeans countries commit, the obvious answer is no.  Let's go further, Muslims in Europe are not responsible as a collective or as individuals for violence committed by groups or a group or an individual in Europe.  I don't believe that anyone here was suggesting that a pogrom targeted against Muslims be initiated in the United States or Europe.