I have to say something about the Danish Cartoon protests. I'm not sure if it will be widely accepted, but I really feel the need to get this off my chest.
First of all, to all those who found those cartoons offensive and outrageous - you are absolutely right. They were, and depicting Muhammed as a terrorist is racist, repulsive, and ignorant. Secondly, to all those who felt these cartoons were symptomatic of a wider disrespect towards Islam in the Western world, you're right again. The vast majority of Westerners don't know enough about Islam, and what little they care to know only fuels a level of dangerous ignorance.
Thirdly - are you listening? - Grow the fuck up.
I am sick and tired of the "conflict between freedom of expression and freedom of religion" meme. There is no goddamned conflict. Your freedom of religion concerns your right, and your right only, to practice your faith. It does not, and it ought not, in any way, shape or form, dictate the actions of other people. People who do not share your beliefs are welcome to say whatever they like about religion. You are free not to listen to them. Period. End of story. Close the book.
I am also sick and tired of freedom of expression being curtained by the standard of offense. That is to say - you are free to say anything you like, so long as what you say doesn't cause offense to anybody. Under that standard, whether applied by zealots on the left or on the right - and I find it mildly hilarious how often it being applied by the right (War on Christmas, anybody?) - free speech is dead. The ability to offend is contiguous with the ability to criticise.
This is not analogous to, or even in the same ballpark with, shouting fire in a crowded theater. The fact of the matter is, most religions espouse some utterly stupid ideas. This isn't, in my opinion, anything endemic to religion, but only the fact that if you put enough human beings in a group, they'll come up with dumb and brilliant ideas in just about equal measure.
So, you know what that means? Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Scientology, Agnosticism, Atheism, Communism, Free-Market Fundamentalism, Flying Spaghetti Monsterism - they all, in whatever shape or form, say stupid things and propagate dumb beliefs. They also propagate brillance in a variety of forms, and nobody who knows anything about history will say Europe would have been better off without the influence of Islamic North Africa, which was kind enough to preserve the heritage of the Classical world for us.
Without criticism, without satire, and without offense, it's unlikely we could separate the dumb from the brilliant. I'm finding, however, that this is an opinion not shared among the religious fundamentalists who have an increasingly strong grip on our political consciousness - and yes, I'm talking about you, Messers Bush and Robertson.
Frankly, if you think your freedom of relgion trumps another's freedom of expression, you don't have a place in the free world.