Dear Poirot and Foxy,

>>This whole subject opens up a can of worms. <<

You both are so right, as e.g. the post by R0bert illustrates it: if I am offended too often by things you say that are not to my liking, all communication between us will stop.

If I enter a pub and insult, ridicule a bully with a machine gun (instead of trying to disarm him, or, better, call the police) he might kill not only me but also, say, 12 innocent bystanders, Jews or not. That was the gist of what my original post wanted to point to - the difference between victim and victim.

I agree with Juan Cole, although I think the attempt was rather to generally destabilise France and Europe. After all, it is not only the French Muslims but also the French Jews who feel intimidated, and traditional Christians who feel alienated.

Therefore of all the banners carried at the Paris rally, I liked most the one with only the signs of the three Abrahamic religions. After all, practically all Europeans come with a cultural background rooted in either Christianity or Judaism or Islam, whether or not they appreciate the religious dimensions of their heritage.

Jyllands-Posten (publishers of the original Muhammad cartoons in 2005) and others will not republish the Charlie Hebdo cartoons (http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/01/jyllands-posten-famous-for-muhammad-cartoons-wont-print-charlie-hebdo-drawings). I think it would be better if the motivation for this was to not unnecessarily offend large groups of people, rather than fear of reactions by Islamist bullies.

Dear david f,

>>I think some Muslims feel that anything, no matter how sacred, can be ridiculed or questioned.<<

I do not think there are many Muslims who would think that Muhammad can be ridiculed, see the worldwide reactions to the Jyllands-Posten cartoons in 2005. Questioning soembody's beliefs is not the same thing as ridiculing or caricaturing them.

I looked up your link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_conversion but found no reference to forced conversions to Christianity or death in our century. Also, I cannot see where the practice “if you convert to another religion you face death” comes from following a contemporary Christian example.

Dear Banjo,

Thanks for the “insider” perspective.

>>(Charlie Hebdo) has a tremendous prestige throughout the country. <<

This is obviously what those who organised the massacre (since it was apparently professionally prepared and executed, although forgetting your ID card in the abandoned car, does not testify to professionalism) were vey well aware of.

david f

you continue to sprout your ignorance of Christ's teachings. No wonder you also totally misrepresent Mohammeds teaching. Secularism and Islam have much more in common with each other than Christ's teaching.

runner,

Just "once" I would love to see you displaying the kind of sentiments espoused in Christ's teachings.

If you don't mind me saying, you don't channel him very well.

Where's the love?

@ Poirot,

<<Where's the love?>> LOL

Under Poirot's formula --it would seem, a wife whose husband regularly comes home bashes her, trashs the house and abuses the kids should be welcomed with open arms--and no hint of criticism.

SPQR,

That was an extremely poor analogy.

I'm merely surmising why someone who constantly and severely berates others for their lack of understanding of Christ's teachings - fails to display Christ's fundamental message in his own expression.