Tim Worstall

Even More Mohammed Cartoons.

More from the New York Times on the background to those protests over the Jyllands-Posten cartoons of Mohammed.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 8 — As leaders of the world’s 57 Muslim nations
gathered for a summit meeting in Mecca in December, issues like
religious extremism dominated the official agenda. But much of the talk
in the hallways was of a wholly different issue: Danish cartoons
satirizing the Prophet Muhammad.

The closing communiqué took note of the issue when it expressed
"concern at rising hatred against Islam and Muslims and condemned the
recent incident of desecration of the image of the Holy Prophet
Muhammad in the media of certain countries" as well as over "using the
freedom of expression as a pretext to defame religions."

Essentially, as they tell the story, no one really cared very much until Danish Moslem activists brought it to the attention of the conference and then all competed to out-outrage each other in a competetive frenzy of which was the more Islamic government.

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4 responses

  1. Bob B Avatar
    Bob B

    There are worrisome parallels with Christianity in European history of the 16th and 17th centuries:
    “August 24, 1572, was the date of the infamous St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in France. On that day, over 400 years ago, began one of the most horrifying holocausts in history. The glorious Reformation, begun in Germany on October 31, 1517, had spread to France—and was joyfully received. A great change had come over the people as industry and learning began to flourish, and so rapidly did the Truth spread that over a third of the population embraced the Reformed Christian Faith. . .”
    “Suddenly—and without warning—the devilish work commenced. Beginning at Paris, the French soldiers and the Roman Catholic clergy fell upon the unarmed people, and blood flowed like a river throughout the entire country. Men, women, and children fell in heaps before the mobs and the bloodthirsty troops. In one week, almost 100,100 Protestants perished. The rivers of France were so filled with corpses that for many months no fish were eaten. In the valley of the Loire, wolves came down from the hills to feel upon the decaying bodies of Frenchmen. The list of massacres was as endless as the list of the dead!”
    http://www.reformation.org/bart.html
    And:
    “The Thirty Years’ War . . a conflict fought between the years 1618 and 1648, principally on the territory of today’s Germany, but also involving most of the major continental powers. It occurred for a number of reasons. Although it was from its outset a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics, the self-preservation of the Habsburg dynasty was also a central motive.”
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Years'_War

    Reply
  2. Andrew Ian Dodge Avatar
    Andrew Ian Dodge

    Well it was a similar situation that got the Templars arrested and tried for blasphemy.

    Reply
  3. embutler Avatar
    embutler

    yes we are so civilized these days…hardly anyone is tried for blasphemy these days,though I think the last case was in britain just recently. christian blasphemny ..look it up
    Tim adds: Tha Gay Times trial? Late 1970s I think?

    Reply
  4. The Ink Slinger Avatar
    The Ink Slinger

    Tim,
    Did you hear Malcolm Brabant’s Radio 4programme about the cartoons today?

    Reply

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