The Latest from Denmark
You can keep up with the Mohammed cartoon story in the Copenhagen Post, which you can access via the European pull-down newspaper menu on Power Line News. If you're not familiar with this feature, this would be a good time to check it out. Just run your cursor over the map, and you'll have access to dozens of newspapers around the world, all in English.
The latest from the Copenhagen Post is a threat by an Islamist organization affiliated with al Qaeda to murder Danes. The group's warning was:
You will see your own blood as an answer, and that is revenge from our prophet.
Earlier this week, Denmark's vice prime minister, Bendt Bendtsen, made what struck me as a rather inapt analogy:
Bendtsen compared the 12 Jyllands-Posten caricatures of Mohammed to pictures of Jesus with an erect penis painted by Danish artist Jens Jørgen Thorsen.'I was deeply affected by them. I didn't like them. Those are some of the same emotions,' he said, pointing out that it was not unheard of for Danes to get upset over misused religious symbols: Two summers ago, a grocery store was forced to stop selling flip flops with pictures of Jesus after religious groups complained.
Bendtsen said Danish newspapers could possibly learn something from US newspapers, which tended not to try to push the limits of what was permissible.
'In the US, freedom of expression is also important. At the same time, there is also a tradition of showing consideration for others,' he said.
'Religion is a deeply personal thing for a lot of people. I felt offended by the pictures of Jesus. Nor was I too keen about the sandals either.'
The real point of the analogy, I would think, is the one that Bendtsen didn't make: angry Christians didn't riot and threaten anyone with genocide. In any event, though, I'm glad to hear that there are still some Christians left in Denmark.
UPDATE: CNN International is running an online poll: "Should the European press have published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad?" With over 160,000 votes cast, the results strike me as a little surprising: 14% yes, 86% no.
