Madam, - Arguing that the cartoons of Muhammad are an intolerable affront to Muslims (Opinion, February 15th), Vincent Browne contends that Europe has not been tolerant of anti-Christian blasphemy in recent times, implying hypocrisy in those who justify the cartoons as an expression of free speech.
The sole evidence Mr Browne finds for this is a long-forgotten case from 1977 involving Mary Whitehouse and Gay News, in which the campaigner brought a private prosecution against that publication for depicting Jesus as a homosexual.
One can only assume Mr Browne stopped reading books, watching television and visiting art galleries around 1977, as there has been no shortage of anti-Christian blasphemy in the public domain ever since. Such Olympian indifference to the vulgar circus that modern life has become is indeed praiseworthy; yet may I be allowed to remind your commentator of some of the more interesting examples of irreverence?
Has Mr Browne picked up a copy of the Da Vinci Code, a hugely popular and deeply tedious novel that claims Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene? Is he familiar with the situation comedy Father Ted in which three Catholic priests are variously portrayed as an embezzler, a moron and a degraded alcoholic? Does he know of the sculptor Andres Serrano, whose Piss Christ consisted of a crucifix submerged in a jar of the artist's urine? The fact is that Christians and Christianity have been unrelentingly insulted and abused by those with products to flog in the marketplace, from the world of high art down to the gutter of tabloid journalism. Few apologies have been sought, and certainly none have been forthcoming.
Indeed Mr Browne himself has been putting the boot into the Catholic church, for sins real and imagined, over the past 30 years. His putative reinvention as a champion of religious tolerance does not convince.
The craven gullibility of the Irish establishment in its response to manufactured hysteria over some silly cartoons does not augur well for the future of freedom and democracy. In their campaign to subvert Western Judaeo-Christian culture and values and replace them with relativist nullity our liberal intelligentsia have been all too successful. It is a success they may soon regret.- Yours, etc,
PHILIP DONNELLY, Brookfield Avenue, Maynooth, Co Kildare.
Madam, - I read in The Irish Times that hundreds of Muslims were demonstrated in Dublin against the Danish cartoons. I only wish thousands would protest against Iranian newspaper cartoons depicting Hitler in bed having sex with the young Anne Frank, with the caption: "Write this one in your diary, Anne". I find this more outrageous than the silly, albeit irreverent, cartoons published in an unknown newspaper four months ago.
The Life of Brian, The Last Temptation of Christ and all the ridiculous films on exorcism that Hollywood loves to churn out are far more insulting to Christian believers than a cartoon, but they do not resort to burning flags and buildings or issue death threats against film directors.
Cartoons satirise news events; if there were no suicide bombers, the cartoons could not have been drawn. I wonder what was the real objective of the mullah in Denmark who travelled to the Middle East with copies of the cartoons as well as others not published - to make life better for Muslims living in Denmark? This is politics, and the real issues include Syrian anger over the loss of Lebanon and accusations of involvement in the murder of Lebanese premier Hariri, Hamas perhaps being denied European funding, having won the elections in Palestine. But Denmark is paying the price.
It is time to put this whole issue into perspective. The editor of the Danish newspaper has apologised. The matter should end; perhaps it would end if TV cameras stopped filming the demonstrators in the Arab world. What heavenly grace they would earn if they would only use as much energy to help their Muslim brothers and sisters enduring the most horrible sufferings after the earthquake in Kashmir. - Yours, etc,
SYLVIA L. SEVERI, Beijing, China.
Madam, - You did not publish the contentious cartoons that offend Muslims. However, you regularly publish pictures of a female pop singer who has adopted the title of the most revered saint in the Catholic Church, Madonna. She performs sexual gyrations in front of audiences under the name of someone who to Catholics is the very epitome of sexual purity and innocence.
I suggest the difference is that you are confident Catholics will not react violently. I don't think that respect is the guiding principle in not publishing the cartoons. I think it is fear. - Yours, etc,
KEVIN COOPER, Forest Avenue, Kingswood Heights, Dublin 24.