Time will tell if the writer is truly a moderate in the sense westerners understand as its meaning. If one was a paranoid sceptic, one may wonder if our writer is a trojan horse - an educated follower of the tenents of the Islamic faith who uses manipulation of the media to conduct the jihad.
I like to think he is he is 'true blue'.

In response to Opinionated :
To clarify - Christians follow the New Testament teachings of Jesus Christ, not the teachings of the Old Testament which were followed by the Jews (and Jesus was a Jew). Christians may take up arms but this is not the commission given to them by Christ who told them they were to engage in 'spiritual battle' and may lose their life if they follow his teachings.
The followers of the Islamic faith follow the Koran and Hadith. Mohammed taught that Jihad is expected of his followers and we know what this means.
How can you possibly compare Christ with Mohammed?

The diversity of "religion" has created a divide amongst people over the centuries. It is about time we believed in each other, than the unknown.

THE CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS HAS COME - I DON"T LIKE IslamoFacistS!!

The cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten raise the most important question of our times: freedom of expression. Are we in the west going to cave into pressure from societies with a medieval mindset, or are we going to defend our most precious freedom — freedom of expression, a freedom for which thousands of people sacrificed their lives?

A democracy cannot survive long without freedom of expression, the freedom to argue, to dissent, even to insult and offend. It is a freedom sorely lacking in the Islamic world, and without it Islam will remain unassailed in its dogmatic, fanatical, medieval fortress; ossified, totalitarian and intolerant. Without this fundamental freedom, Islam will continue to stifle thought, human rights, individuality; originality and truth.

Unless, we show some solidarity, unashamed, noisy, public solidarity with the Danish cartoonists, then the forces that are trying to impose on the Free West a totalitarian ideology will have won; the Islamization of Europe will have begun in earnest. Do not apologize.

All this terror and hate over 12 cartoons is horrific to say the least.
Islam doesn't compare any where near true Christianity,which teaches love,forgiveness (70x7)daily , no revenge, so Allah can't be the same god as the Christian God, as (He) God Almighty never asks for or teaches revenge,while Islam does , and also allows lies if in defence of Allah.

Australian's CAN'T HAVE A BALANCED ,HOLY, LOVING LIFE, IF WE ALLOW WORSHIP OF MANY GODS AND MANY BELIEFS . WHAT A MESS. Why not do away with every law,creed,belief,prayers ,idols,culture and religion for peace sake?

It has become a fear filled world , due to Muslim reprisals and hate going as far as beheading anyone they hate ,blowing them to pieces, men ,women,and children,even their own people to get revenge.

Now,freedom of press,and jounalism is the next to go if they can put fear into all the world .

I just viewed the cartoons of Mohammed on a search engine and they are tame compared to what muslims and anti- christian people show of Jesus and Moses and Buddha.

Actually this search engine shows dozens on cartoons of mohammed right back to a thousand years or so right up 'til today,so why is there trouble over them now?

Is is fuelled by the elite and intellectual wealthy Muslims, using the illiterate Muslims as gun fodder,to do their dirty work? Wake up world.
Jesus one commandment was to"LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I LOVE YOU" before he went to Heaven to wait to return for all of His followers .
Let us Christians do that.

This whole horrifying change is spiritual,with no apologies from Muslim leaders or any others.Why?

Jesus whom Musilms accept as a Prophet of God say a Prophet cannot lie,then why not accept Jesus words when He said, " I am the way ,the truth and the life ,no man can come to God except thru Me".? He also said that He is the Son of God.

Stalin asked Kaganovich: "Why do you look so gloomy when we laugh at jokes about the Jews, whereas Mikoyan doubles up with mirth when he hears jokes about Armenians?" Kaganovich said that he replied: "You are well aware of national feelings, Comrade Stalin. The Jews have been thrashed so may times that they have become like a sensitive plant, they clench themselves when they are touched." Stalin said: "What a good comparison!" It might well be that today's Muslims are yesterday's Jews! (See my forthcoming book, "Dictatorial CEOs and their lieutenants: the cases of Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Ataturk and Mao.") And click onto: http://www.jeffschubert.com

Good response. Mature, interesting, well balanced and seeing your reaction on Cronulla no hypocrisy, which is so refeshing.

Those that jumped up and down at one should jump up and down at the other. Those that jump up and down at one and not the other? I will ignore the other thread on this.

I don't see see the reason to publish these just for a reaction but then those who do react violently seem to be doing so for more reasons than suggested, a trait of Cronulla.

However the peaceful protestors at each event had every right and we should respect that.

Thanks though Irfan, good essay to think about.