The Cartoon Row

PARIS (Reuters) - The row over caricatures of Islam's Prophet Mohammad resembles a dialogue of the deaf, with many European spokesmen defending the right to free speech and many Muslims insisting Islam must be treated with respect. Calls for moderation, both from Muslim leaders and European politicians, risk getting lost in a public debate dominated by Europeans afraid of losing a core right of...

A wave of violent protests and heated debate has been brewing across Europe and the Middle East about the controversial decision of a Danish newspaper to publish cartoons satirising Islam. Last September, the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten printed the 12 cartoons (which included caricatures of the prophet Mohammed), provoking outrage from Muslim extremists, both in Denmark and abroad. Pressure...

BUDAPEST: The Western news media is unlikely to heed the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, and the European politicians who have condemned the provocative nature of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, which have provoked rage in the Muslim world. But it does need to engage in serious debate about its preferred role in mediating between cultures. This should start with the admission that...

The great British philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote in On Liberty, "Strange it is, that men should admit the validity of the arguments for free discussion, but object to their being 'pushed to an extreme'; not seeing that unless the reasons are good for an extreme case, they are not good for any case." The cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten raise the most important question of our...

In December, before the controversy over the publication of a series of Danish newspaper cartoon images of the Prophet Mohammed became a global issue, the Muslim writer & broadcaster Kenan Malik addressed the key issues raised by the furore and others like it at a conference debate convened by Index on Censorship. This is what he said. There are two questions I want to address here. In a plural...

The decision of some newspapers to publish controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed lead some to argue that the media should be a force for tolerance and cohesion as well as a source of news. Speaking at a recent debate convened by Index on Censorship, the BBC’s head of news, Richard Sambrook, considered this argument. Sometimes, the dividing line between proper media regulation and...

LONDON (Reuters) - The country's normally provocative newspapers have so far refused to publish the cartoons of Prophet Mohammad that have outraged the Islamic world, prompting some commentators to question whether they have become too politically correct. The Sun said it had chosen not to print the cartoons out of respect for its Muslim readers while other papers said it was important not to...

(CNSNews.com) - A U.S.-based Islamic civil rights group is urging people of all faiths to turn a cartoon controversy into a "positive learning experience." On Thursday, representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations met with the Norwegian ambassador to the United States to discuss the controversy surrounding publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. A Danish newspaper...

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Muslim reaction to the cartoon depictions of the Prophet Mohammed indicates that Muslims think they are "holier" than the rest of the world, an expert on racial hatred said. Anti-European sentiment spread throughout the Middle East on Thursday after a number of European newspapers reprinted 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. Islamic scholars say that any...

Muslim extremists are using the furore over the Prophet Mohammed cartoons published in European newspapers to rally the faithful to a jihad (holy war), in several Internet postings. "Brothers, it's war against Islam ..., grab your swords," says hardline Saudi cleric Sheikh Badr bin Nader al-Mashari in a voice recording posted on an Islamist website. He said the cartoons - first published by a...