stevenlmeyer: "Suppose a newspaper regularly – say once every two or three weeks - published cartoons that lampooned Muhammad. Would that be Islamophobia?"

That would depend entirely upon the context, Steven. If the cartoons referred to current news items and issues, and the newspaper wasn't in the editorial practice of singling Islam out from other religions for this kind of treatment, then maybe not.

However, if the newspaper routinely presents Islam (as opposed to Islamism) and Muslims negatively, editorialises regularly about the supposed dangers of Islam, and only publishes letters that are highly critical of Islam, then yes, it probably is an example of Islamophobia.

And if it publishes such cartoons egregiously, simply to provoke a reaction from Islam's lunatic fringe', then that is certainly Islamophobia. While 'vilification of Mohammed' is not the same thing as Islamophobia, it seems to be characteristic of Islamophobes.

I hope this helps.