A chara, - As a freelance journalist I probably take "freedom of speech" a little more personally than most. But I've now passed the point of nausea listening to people here, in the UK and elsewhere in Europe hijacking it to defend what are little more than petulant playground insults.
Let me state from the off that I Am an atheist, and as such I find any number of religious doctrines, from the prohibition of the depiction of prophets, the ban of priests marrying, to papal infallibility, transubstantiation or ritual circumcision with equal scepticism. However, I would never go out of my way to phrase my views in an insulting fashion. And on the rare occasions when I have unintentionally done so, I have quickly apologised.
The cartoons that were published in the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten did cause genuine offence. It's not that Muslims can't take a joke - but that Islam considers it sacrilegious to graphically depict the Prophet Muhammad; they believe that to do so is to attempt to view the divine from a perspective equal to God's. The sin of pride, in other words.
Added to this is the lampooning of the Prophet Muhammad as a suicide bomber - something that could be calculated to cause as much distress among Muslims as the lampooning of Jesus Christ as a paedophilic priest might among Christians. If any paper were tasteless enough to ever publish such a cartoon, no doubt a storm of protest would ensue, as would a swift apology.
No such apology was offered by Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten until well after the offence had been denied, repeated, magnified and then extended for the entire Muslim world to be insulted. Far too little, far too late. As it stands, the Christian world seems to display a mixture of three emotions where Islam is concerned: distaste, fear, and frustration. All of these are born of a lack of understanding. Sadly, our current desire to insult and injure what we don't understand exposes the underlying fact that we don't even want to try.
Too many of us would be happy if Islam simply went away, but it won't. We may indeed be witnessing a clash of civilisations, but it's not a clash either side can win.
I don't condone rioting and the burning of embassies as an appropriate response to our inappropriate behaviour. But we are only responsible for our own actions, not those of others. And we are not children. Pointing and saying, "But look what they're doing" is no defence, nor does it give us any clues as to what to do next.
If we are as socially and politically evolved as we claim to be, we should be leading the search for common ground and mutual understanding, not throwing more fuel on a fire that is already burning beyond our control and claiming we are doing so in the name of freedom. - Yours, etc,
JULIAN BROWN, Clonsura, Castletown-Finea, Co Westmeath.
Madam, - Having just seen the now notorious Danish cartoons with their less than flattering images of Muhammad, I am more than surprised at the deferential and half-apologetic stance Western media and commentators have been adopting towards the fundamentalist backlash from large sections of Islam. Can it be that the cartoons have not been seen by the commentators in question? That might explain their eagerness to dissociate themselves from the Danish lampooners.
I have seen far more scathing cartoons, verbal ridicule and even comic sketches aimed at various popes and churchmen of the Catholic and Christian tradition. There have been controversial films about Jesus, whom his followers believe to be not only a prophet but also the Son of God. I have seen Sinéad O'Connor tear up an image of the late Pope John Paul II in this country and neither she nor anyone else got hurt.
Such publications and gestures may be perceived by Catholics and other Christians as distasteful, crass, offensive and provocative, but the right to reply, object, denounce and take offence publicly does not deny anyone else the right to comment, criticise or even ridicule. I did not like Ms O'Connor's gesture but I would, following the famous line, defend to the death her right to make it.
Freedom of speech is a precious and hard won right and is the gem in the crown of an open democratic society. How else can we test the truth or allow people the expression of deeply felt convictions? It may not be the Islamic way of ordering society but it is the way of Western democracy and we do not need to apologise for it. The attack on free speech in the West is the new battleground of terrorism and it must be resisted.
It is somewhat ironic, given the reverence Muslims have for their own flags and leaders and their Prophet, that some of them have so little scruple about burning the flags of other countries, bombing their embassies and setting alight effigies of their leaders. There is a still deeper irony in the tolerance of the sword and bomb as instruments of protest and political expression while denying others the right to wield pen and pencil to the same end.
Finally, whatever the failure and weaknesses of Western civilisation, it regards the destruction of human life, any human life, as a greater desecration than the manipulation of the image of any being whether living or dead, prophet or otherwise. In our efforts to be inclusive and pluralist we must not be tricked into diluting our own patrimony. - Yours, etc,
MARGARET HICKEY, Castleowen, Blarney, Co Cork.
Madam, - "The cartoons are racist," declares David Manning (February 9th). Perhaps he would care to state what "race" he is talking about.
While we can pick and choose and chop and change our religious beliefs, each of us is stuck with his/her race, ethnicity, DNA. That is why lampooning someone's religion is acceptable, but ridiculing his/her race is not. - Yours, etc,
TONY ALLWRIGHT, Killiney, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Congratulations, in general, to the Irish media. Rightly, they did not publish the offensive cartoon of Muhammad.
Would it be possible to show the same respect for the Irish Catholic tradition to which the majority in this country belong, though they do not necessarily practise? - Yours, etc,
ANNE O'HARA, Carlow.