The British media is probably the most irreverent in Europe, so the decision not to reprint the 12 Danish cartoons of the Prophet is a curious one. Are we displaying multicultural good manners? Journalistic pride, in not following up someone else's story? Or post-7/7 fear? Probably a mix of all three. Contrary to much press comment, most of the cartoons could only be construed as offensive by someone seeking offence—several are playful and ironic. Of course there are limits to free speech, but almost all these cartoons fall comfortably within those limits, at least for a developed, open society. In an ideal world, one of the big, mainstream news organisations would have printed all 12 cartoons, allowing British Muslim leaders to then show how much more confident and integrated the community has grown since the Rushdie affair.
Britain is a secular liberal country, and religion belongs to the private sphere. The state has an established church—something backed by all the other major religions—and we still have blasphemy laws which in theory protect Christianity from abuse. But these laws are, thankfully, "a dead letter," as the Church of England itself says. Christianity and the figure of Christ are routinely mocked in the public sphere, far more so than minority religions like Islam. British Muslims should demand equal citizenship, and can expect both the state and civil society to adapt, within reason, to their needs—Muslim holidays, prayer rooms and so on. But a small Muslim minority cannot demand that non-Muslims live by Muslim religious rules. As some of the cartoons suggest: relax, turn a blind eye. Not just because pious Christians have done so for decades, but because this is a mark of political and cultural maturity. Tiptoeing too gingerly around the sensibilities of European Muslims risks turning them into a special case—people too volatile for normal democratic rules, like their Syrian co-religionists described in our cover story. And that in turn plays into the hands of the Muslim extremists who are indeed volatile footsoldiers at war with the decadent, profane west.
