“Why I Published Those Cartoons”

Flemming Rose, the editor of the Danish newspaper that commissioned the now famous cartoons featuring Mohammed gives his point of view today, and it’s worth reading.

Here is, I believe, the most critical part of a very good op-ed.

Has Jyllands-Posten insulted and disrespected Islam? It certainly didn’t intend to. But what does respect mean? When I visit a mosque, I show my respect by taking off my shoes. I follow the customs, just as I do in a church, synagogue or other holy place. But if a believer demands that I, as a nonbeliever, observe his taboos in the public domain, he is not asking for my respect, but for my submission. And that is incompatible with a secular democracy.

Exactly so. What these protesting Muslims and those who are inciting them to violence want is not our respect but our surrender. They want us to practice their religious beliefs for no othre reason than they say it should be done. They offer no secular or societal reason this should happen, only death threats and violence.

Rose’s column today is important. It is the right position in this clash of cultures we face and it ought to be the position of every single media outlet in every single free nation.

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Category: Our Foreign Policy