I haven’t seen the cartoons ridiculing the Prophet Mohammad. I bought a copy of Satanic Verses but never really read it through.  I have thought about the Fatwa issued against the life of Salmon Rushdie and the current riots in protest against the Danish publisher who decided to release the offensive cartoons.  Now, it seems, sides are being taken and the European westernized nations are printing those cartoons as a matter of FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, while the Muslim and Arab nations are quelling rioting in the streets against the unbelievers who must respect their Prophet and their religion.  In fact, there was quite a hullabaloo about the inviolability of the Quran (Koran) which is considered holy and there are many rituals about keeping it out of the hands of those who are unbelievers.

Ever since the libel, “Killers of Christ”, became official Catholic doctrine in the early Middle Ages, Jews have suffered persecution.  Muslims who after 632 C.E. conquered most of the old Roman empire in the east, north Africa and almost got to the gates of Constantinople and took most of Spain and Portugal, adopted a different methodology of persecution.  They called the Jews, People of the Book, and recognized Jesus as a Prophet.  But Mohammad was the last Prophet and was proclaimed the Messenger of Islam.  Both the Jews and Christians were “special” in that they were tolerated and had to pay a special tax if they did not convert to Islam.

In the current world we seem to have developed thin skins.  Freedom of the Press has been attacked because some are offended by this or by that.  I am often offended by the American predilection for sports, entertainment and news about sales in their newspapers.  The amount of actual news reportage is tiny compared to full page color displays of heroes combating each other, “Stars” parading in the latest fashions and showing their latest mating acquisitions.  We all know it is the advertising that pays the bills of putting out newspapers.  Such advertising pays for your use and my enjoyment of the ease of e-mail and access to the internet.

But, what this is about is thin skins.  This is not about slander which goes on all the time.  This is not about falsehoods and hoaxes which go on all the time.  It is about what some people claim as inviolable.  You must not insult some other people’s beliefs.  To do so, a fatwa might be declared against you.  And, this means that any believer is obligated to kill you for desecrating some holy object or belief.

Freedom of the press also means freedom of expression even though you or I might be offended by the current styles or fashions of thought or visual display. It is very much as though – you can say what you want but it must be truth or it is slander and I can sue you for the lies you print or say.  The fist stops at the nose and you can’t falsely yell FIRE in a theater - or you are in trouble.