Despite appearing over three months ago, it is only now that the world has
woken up to the issue - one which should barely qualify as a storm in a teacup
has instead become a worldwide storm of fury.
The cartoons themselves are far less denigrating to Mohammed than a figure of
their Christ's mum wrapped in a condom was to Christians, yet I don't remember
Catholics calling for violence, death and cutting off of hands.
Your own editorial comments regarding not deliberately poking fun at religion
have actually been made obsolete by the hideous reaction shown by Islam, which
in itself demands that the object of anger be placed up for general public
scrutiny.
The fact that some of the cartoons are even more denigrating to their publisher
than to any perceived deity has been completely overlooked and will not be seen
by anyone not viewing the whole range of cartoons.
This was a chance for Islam to show that it has the ability to deal with other
cultures and the 21st century. It has failed miserably and its general reaction
will be only to harden the beliefs of rednecks that Islamists are all insane
terrorists.
Alan Charman