On the other hand . . .

In a post entitled Worldwide Cartoon Frenzy, Johnny Rocketseed says this:

. . . For whatever reasons, Muslim leaders around the world have seized on the mostly-innocuous cartoons to advance the view that, in such matters at least, non-Muslims are bound to the standards imposed by Islamic theology.

One very fundamental point that seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle is that Mohammed was an important historical figure. We're not talking here about creating images of a supernatural God; we're talking about a human being who was important largely as a military leader. If Muslims don't want to create drawings, statues, etc., of Mohammed, fine. But to say that no one else can do so is like trying to prohibit depictions of, say, George Washington. Ridiculous, in other words.

Shocking, Johnny, just shocking! Imagine: religious adherents thinking that their tenets should be imposed on others! Oh wait, Christian fundamentalists do that too: ban abortions, bay gay marriage, pray in school, breach the wall between church and state.

What fatuous sanctimonious scrubbery.

Obviously, Muslims do not view Mohammed as simply a "military leader." The West has been dissing Mohammed for centuries, and Muslims are a little touchy about it. Can you blame them? How would Christians and Jews react to the depiction of Abraham as a low life (he did father a child with a household servant - think Strom Thurmond - and was prepared to kill his own son)? Ok, bad example; Abraham is revered by Muslims, Jews and Christians. Or how about when a monument of the Ten Commandments is removed from a southern courthouse? That got some people riled up, too.

Johnny, like many conservatives, has little inclination or ability to emphathize with anyone; it comes from believing that you are always right.