The American Muslim has issued a statement, signed by over 80 signatories, condemning the threats of violence against Matt Stone, Trey Parker and Molly Norris.  Stone and Parker had done an episode of their South Park TV show about the depiction of Muhammad, and Norris, in support of them, drew a cartoon on the same subject.  Norris has been forced to go into hiding for her own safety.

It seems odd to me that with all the vitriol aimed at Muslims in the past few weeks by American congressmen, candidates, media personalities and private citizens, precipitated by the controversy the Muslim community center planned near ground zero, there have been no threats against those speaking and acting out against the Muslim faith.

Obviously, I'm NOT calling for an increase in the number of threats on those who express their opinion; the only correct, sane, civilized number of those is zero.

But why single out a few jokesters who didn't even violate a supposed ban on depicting Muhammad -- they only satirized such a ban -- but ignore people who actually denigrate and restrict the religious freedoms of Muslims?

I'm sure the answer to that is complicated, but remember:  if these Muslim extremists want to turn the conflict of Terrorists vs. the West into a conflict of Islam vs. Christianity, they need and want those in the West to also see it as a war of religions, not a political/criminal clash.  It seems to me that the Muslim extremists are essentially in collaboration with these American conservative forces, and they want to encourage them, not intimidate them into silence.