Can God Be Caricatured?

BBC News - Muhammad cartoon row intensifies

A thought provoking article. I can't help but wonder whether there would have been a similar outcry if similarly scathing pictures of the Christian God had been published. Perhaps this is just a Muslim over-reaction, but then I'm sure that the more happy clappy Christians would go ballistic over a picture of their god in some derogatory cartoon. Personally I believe strongly that the whole world deserves the right to freedom of speech and therefore believe that the newspaper has every right to print the caricatures.

But...

Just because I have the right to call an ugly person "ugly", or a fat person "fatty", does not mean I should necessarily exercise the right to do so. The paper might have the right to print the cartoons, but they must have known full well what would happen when they printed them. It's no different to the kid in the playground in a school who repeatedly takes the piss out of the weedy kid, and provokes other kids to do so too. They have the right to do so, but that doesn't mean it is right for them to do so.

This argument is backed up especially by the fact that the French were so quick to wade in on the whole argument. Considering their recent track record in sub-cultural-differing-opinion matters I can't help but feel there is an element of bullying taking place here. For the sake of decency the pictures shouldn't be printed.