>I made one claim; if one can get a jail sentence for denying
>an event, then there is no freedom of speech in Europe! How
>does this claim make argument hypocritical?
Coach, you missed my point, your post, clearly insinuated that the west had no right to tell those violent muslims that their actions were unnacceptable, simply because they are guilty of not allowing freedom of speech. My response was simply that it's irrelevant, as their hypocrisy has no bearing on the fact that the violent reactions by muslims was wrong and unnacceptable PERIOD!!! It is NOT acceptable to have a physical/violent reaction to a non violent action.
And though I generally don't like making blanket statements, I have to say that I agree with a prior post about there seeming to be something inherently wrong with Islam.
Now don't get me wrong, I've read and understand your posts that show that the actions of these renegade muslims run contrary to Islamic doctrine and the teachings of the Quaran, but my point is that while this may be in fact the teaching in theory, there definitley seems to be something wrong in practice, as Islam seems to be a religion that continually and consistantly produces individuals (though they are by no means the majority) that are all too ready to turn to violence in the name of their God, and this is obviously a problem. Another thing I was thinking about, is the fact that when I think about it, all the modern day violent religous conflicts that come to mind, seem to have Muslims as a common factor. Whether they be fighting with Indians, Jews, Christians, or some random african religion.
I've noticed that Islam is a religion that greatly lacks the ability to coexist with different faiths or the lack thereof. Part of coexisting with other religions, is realizing that other people will NOT have the same reverence or respect for your religion (or its figures) that you have! This seems to be unnaceptable to muslims. They seem to want everyone to share their respect, when they gain in numbers, they want Sheria law to be implemented etc. As I said earlier, it seems to be a religion that simply cannot coexist.
Now granted, in the past, Christians have been responsible for the same crimes, but giving credit where it's due, they have evolved much as a religion, and generally we don't see the same reaction Christians under similar circumstances. Take for instance the example of Piss Christ:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piss_Christ
That is an image of not a prohet, but their God, dipped in someones Urine and blood!!!!!! and yet there were no buildings being burnt down and no people being murdered. I can only imagine the reaction if it was a depiction of some Islamic figure!