Those cartoons of Mohammed (pbuh)

With the outrage over the cartoons of Muhammad, we are today looking at what happens when the irresistible force of Western devotion to absolute freedom of speech meets with the immovable object of Eastern devotion to the Prophet Mohammed.

Something will have to give, and a gift of tolerance and understanding would be more helpful than a gift of blood.

Since the West is the one preaching tolerance and understanding, it is reasonable that the West should make the first move to resolve the conflict. We have to understand that religious people take their practices and beliefs as seriously as we take our core value of freedom.

In exercising our intellectual freedoms, we should be mindful of how our actions impact on the psychological space of others. We must learn how to avoid offending the sensibilities of others, just as, in exercising our physical freedoms, for instance, in driving a car, we should be careful not to hit pedestrians. This may seem irksome, but it will assist in the long term with the process being undergone by the majority of moderate peace loving Muslims, as they learn how to come to terms with living in or alongside a liberal Western culture.