What a master of the severe understatement Father Dave Smith is. According to him in the response to the Danish Muhammad cartoons, “Public protests have been held, embassies have been closed, and there has been some violence”.

Some violence, Dave? How does he account for the report in The New York Times dated February 24, 2006, which says that more than 100 people had died in Nigeria in tit-for-tat sectarian violence in the wake of the cartoon controversy?

The Washington Post of February 16, 2006, also reported the deaths of about a dozen people in Afghanistan and five people killed that week in Pakistan in cartoon protests.

The Guardian newspaper of February 20, 2006, also noted that a Christian church in Sukkur, Pakistan had been burnt down by enraged protesters.

Free-thinking Dave also decries the notion of free speech as a “load of rubbish”, which he sees merely as a tool for depraved Westerners to show their “moral and cultural superiority over our Islamic brethren in the East.” How then does he account for the republication of the offending cartoons in countries such as Jordan, Algeria and Yemen? This was done by Muslim journalists.

Dave also complains that our free press has not reported on the protests in “a fair and balanced way”, and that this “free press” has somehow left out reportage of the fact that most of the protests have been peaceful. I would like to direct Father Dave back to The Guardian of February 20, 2006 which goes on to note that:
Protests in Indonesia against the cartoons have been occurring daily, but were largely peaceful because most religious leaders preached moderation.
In Istanbul, tens of thousands of people joined a peaceful demonstration, chanting slogans against Denmark, Israel and the United States.

No mention of violence in those paragraphs, Dave.

Perhaps the worst aspect of Dave Smith’s self-righteous hyperventilation is his slur against other parents, alleging that “Our kids are running amok with sex and drugs.”

There’s nothing ‘amok’ about my two teenaged boys, Mr. Smith.

Smith describes that with which he disagrees as a load of rubbish. Many will think that his article is also a load of rubbish.

Its true that Muslims do not appreciate jokes about Mohammed, so:

1. why did they not riot, burn and kill when the cartoons were published in an Egyptian newspaper 6 months ago?

2. why do Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia continue to produce vile Nazi-type cartoons showing Jews as vampires sucking the blood of 'gentile' children, and Christians as murderous 'Crusaders', ad nauseum?

The truth is that Muslims wish to feel free to insult non-Muslims, but come over all outraged when they are insulted in turn. In other words, they like to dish it out but they cant take it.

The cartoon debacle has shown the world the yawning gap between Islamic religious Fascism and the West. If Muslims hate to see their prophet maligned, perhaps they should take the feelings of others into consideration from time to time.

However, I do agree with the author's opinions about the removal of all censorship. I have felt much the same way when my own beliefs and sensibilities have been insulted - however, I did not cut the throats or otherwise threaten the people who insulted me. Therein lies the difference.

Dear Dave,

Thank you indeed for the thought-provoking piece!
You saved me from losing faith in human beings in general.

It is beyond me why the majority (in any culture) cannot just get past the stereotypes. It has been 163 years since Hans Christian Andersen published "The Ugly Duckling", yet, in the 21st century, we continue to portray "the other" as "ugly". Why are we so superficial?

It has been quite a while since I wrote something -- I was too saddened to write. But now that I have read your article, I have been reassured that the world still is a nice place to live: there still exist some people who are honest, thoughtful and upright.

Thank you for bringing the motivation in me to write again!

Neyeefa
saddened about what ? Some robust comments in a debate forum which are critical of Islam and its founder ? Good grief..

If the criticism makes you sad...why ? its either true or false. You as a muslim should engage on the specific criticisms and counter them if possible. If the criticisms are valid, and well founded, then it might be time to reflect on the foundation of your own life.

DAVE.. neglected to point out a very important issue, highlighted by Dee, that the cartoons had been 'out there' for 6 months then 'suddenly' there was outrage !

Most of us now know that the outrage was fueled by Danish Muslim clerics who did the rounds of the Middle East claiming images of Mohammed being mounted by a dog during prostration in prayer, and another claimed to be making him look like a pig; were the ones published in Denmark.. THIS WAS UNTRUE...but the damage was done.

So, it is not the 'abuse' of freedom of speech which is to blame for the 100s of deaths, mostly of Muslims, but also some Christians (Nigeria) it is the DANISH MUSLIM CLERICS. (yes.. I shouted that)

I will agree to laws preventing the insulting of faiths on the day that the community agrees also to ALL movies being restricted to ALLUSIONS of sexual activity, and ZERO portrayals of 'actual' sex on screen. The fact that 'this is what people do' is NO excuse for showing it. Most people with very few exceptions confine sexual activity to the 4walls of their bedrooms, WHY should it be any different on screen ?
Sexual activity on screen is done for ONE reason.. $ yep..that's it.. DOLLARS, MONEY, filthy Luka., grab effect etc... Why on earth do we willingly degrade ourselves by continually submitting to the pushing of the boundaries of modesty in the name of 'artistic freedom' when we all know its about money !

So, sure.. lets stop insulting other faiths.. and lets also stop racing headlong down the slippery slope of social moral depravity to a Christless eternity

Takes 2 to tango.

They should be emotionally resliliant enough to handle it, and the idiot should not encite rage by drawing it. Stick to Tin Tin and spiderman.

Both heads need pulling in, if the drawer knew about his topic, he would have known the outrage it would create therefore it was a premeditated decision to antagonise.

Over reacting is not the way to deal with it, that is the way of savages. Rise up with 21st century means, not with violence and affray.

This decision to help further estrange the Muslim community from everyone else by knowing the ramifications of the cartoons is dispicable. I ask you, who is pulling his strings?