Well, we've been at it again. The Danish media (most of our newspapers) posted drawings of Mohamed again.

On one hand, there is freedom of speech. On the other, respect for people's religion and taboo's.

I just don't get it. The news media i supposed to document the news, not create them. Things must really go well here, since the entire newspaper staff have to make the news themselves.

The story is; some of the people who made these Mohamed drawings received death threats. Lately the police ran across some people planning to murder one of the artists responsible for these drawings, so (almost) the entire newsmedia decided to post those stupid drawings once again, for the sake of freedom of speech. But what about the freedom of religion, and last but not least, respect?

Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For those who do not follow me / know the history.

I don't see the problem. It isn't as if Jesus has never been made fun of in a cartoon.

People need to lighten up

Well, you're right, sort of.

It isn't about making fun of anybody, it's just about respect. Back when Jyllandsposten posted the drawings for the first time, it was to see what the response would be. As far as i'm concerned, the muslim community here in denmark (and all over the globe, for that matter) made their point back then; they didn't like it. So why doing it again, other than to piss somebody off?

Your jesus argument is just not good enough. It would be the same as if somebody hit you hard and made it clear to you that he wouldn't mind himself, so it's quite alright.

It just don't take away the pain, does it.

One very important thing about freedom of speech, is that it comes with a responsibility not to hurt anyone, just for the fun of it.

Because that's the only way to really effectively say that they're not going to be intimidated by some cowardly douchebags who want to impose their own religious beliefs and practices on everybody else and are willing to kill people to do it.

It's a "I'm not your bitch and never will be" kind of thing.

I don't think the move is directed against the general Muslim population, just at the ones who are crazy enough to try and kill people over some drawings.

I don't get it - what's the big deal about some drawings? Are they somehow mocking the muslim faith?

It's kind of taboo to draw Mohammad or God in Islam. And by "kind of" taboo, I mean pretty damn taboo.

The idea is that it might lead to idolatry, and idolatry is a major no-no in Islam. I was just in India a few weeks ago, and the easiest way to tell a Hindu temple from a mosque in the absence of prior knowledge was to look at the decoration. There were no identifiable images on or in the mosques- it was all abstract and geometrical, because they don't want anything that might potentially be an idol.

But are the artists islamic? If not, they haven't broken their own religious laws then have they?