Respect for Religion?

Outrage spread across the Islamic world on Friday over Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, as Muslims condemned them as "blasphemous" and more European newspapers published them, arguing freedom of speech was sacred.

Up to 300 militant Indonesian Muslims went on a rampage in the lobby of a building housing the Danish embassy in Jakarta.

Shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest), they smashed lamps with bamboo sticks, threw chairs, lobbed rotten eggs and tomatoes and tore up a Danish flag. No one was hurt.

Oh, come ON, people! This gets more and more ridiculous with every new detail.

The drawings have touched off international fury as well as a debate on the clash between freedom of speech and respect for religion.

The only respect due religion is the freedom to practice it without penalty or discrimination. Cartoons -- be they poking fun, mocking, or downright insulting -- do not inhibit the free practice of religion, and are clearly covered under that other basic freedom: free speech.

Palestinian gunmen seized and later released a German on Thursday, and a hand grenade was thrown into the compound of the French Cultural Center in the Gaza Strip.

The editor of a Norwegian magazine which reprinted the Danish cartoons said he had received 25 death threats and thousands of hate messages.

Any concession to actions such as these from the Muslim world would be foolish, as it would only embolden people who are already only too willing to resort to terrorism as a first response. Is anyone else reminded of the playground bully whose first response to anything not going his way was to push, hit or kick in order to get his way?

The problem is that, while most of us have grown up, there are still some childish, petulant bullies hanging around the world playground.

As seen at Michelle Malkin.

Islam
Danish Cartoons
Mohammad
Terrorism