Hey all.
It was good talking to you last night, JP and H.

Just wondering what you guys think of the controversy around the cartoon depictions of Mohammed published in a Danish newspaper last fall.

Riots and calls for boycotts of Danish products have been in the news this week.

Wikipedia has an article about the whole thing here, including the cartoons in question.

It's a tension between freedom of speech and whether or not a Danish newspaper has to follow Islamic law, which bans depiction of anyone considered a prophet (including Mohammed, Jesus, etc.).

I personally come down on the 'freedom of speech' side. I don't want pictures of Jesus, or Mohammad, or anyone else, banned, because it's not allowed under some interpretations of Islamic law...
C

UPDATE: Here's a link to the Mohammed Image Archive. Its author notes that images of Mohammed have been created for hundreds of years - it's only recently that this has become controversial.

Here's a 'Support Denmark' page...
where you can show your support for freedom of speech and the press...

UPDATE2: Here's one cartoonist's take on the whole thing:

- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 1/31/2006 12:18:00 PM