Vishontar has valid points here!I truly admire your knowledge and wisdom. Often times freedom of expression when abused attracts eagerly waiting extremists to demonstrate their irrational behavior leading all of us into chaos.The offensive cartoons about the prophet of the faith that covers huge chunk of humanity is an example of utter irresponsibilty. Bygone the days; torch has already been extinguished and todays Muslims are holding the extinguished torch in the darkness. They have to re-light the torch; the darkness is a real threat to them. The statement above is more than enough for a civilized mind to understand where are the thoughts of the author originating from.It reflects pro- humanists views more than any other. Unfortuantely biased views about someone else's faith that too due to lack of logic makes one no less fanatic than the brainwashed kids that pride themselves in killing themselves and others in the name of religion.The joy derived from poking fun at someone else's religion is no less evil than the joy derived from wearing a suicide-bomber suit killing innocent humans. Islamic civilization too like our own civilization flourished centuries back in the absence of blindfaith and fanaticism.Like Vishontar mentioned,the darkness is a real threat to them and US.That same darkness has made all of US blind.How would you react if someone would make fun of hindu gods in the same manner?Sooner or later the newspapers that are fueling hatred amongst the world community by publishing cartoons about such a sensitive topic are going to apologise and they should. Some of you have brought up the issues of unscientific views that are mentioned in the holy book of "Quran".No religion is an exception to irrational views details for that matter .How about holy book of bible that tells chritians that the world was created in seven days?Will that make Christ a man with the bomb on his crown of thrones?Remember it is rational views of Jesus that he spoke during "Sermon on the mount"that makes him respectful and worship-worthy.The words of Muhammad and Buddha fall in that same manner that preaches compassion and harmony.If in doubt,I would suggest you to read a filtered version of Bible expounded by Thomas Jefferson who claimed to be a humanist all his life. The version of religion that came much later with extreme views killed the rational side of the prophet's teachings eventually leading the respective societies to the darkness.Narrowminded priests and fanatics later only to maintain their superior status in the social ladder gave birth to the darkness.Where science fails, blindfaith rules.So let us be tolerant towards other's views before we conclude our self-righteous views.