An American Lion

Lars Vilks and a depiction of “Mohammad” with the body of a dog

A Swedish cartoonist tells the BBC that he has an axe in his home, should someone try to attack him for a cartoon that he drew several years ago:

Seven people have been arrested in the Irish Republic over an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist for depicting the Prophet Muhammad, police say.

The four men and three women are all Muslim immigrants, according to media reports, though a police statement did not confirm this.

Cartoonist Lars Vilks had depicted the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog in the Nerikes Allehanda newspaper.

Islamic militants put a $100,000 (£67,000) bounty on his head.

Mr Vilks was quoted as saying he was unfazed by the arrests, which he said he thought could be linked to two death threats he had received by telephone in January.

What a bunch of nonsense. If the basis of your religion can be shaken by what some Swede with pen and ink comes up with, your religion isn’t really based on anything except your own fundamentalist rage, now is it? The great religions cannot be threatened by cartoonists. Islam is a great religion; no cartoonist can make a “dent” in it with a half-clever scrawl.

If you take a look at what is depicted above, how can anyone be offended? I could understand annoyed—what a waste of time. But, offended? Please.