Being Tolerant

More cartoon horror:

The Church in Wales has appealed to 500 subscribers to its magazine to return copies after it printed a cartoon caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad.

The editor has resigned after the cartoon was published in the Church’s Welsh-language magazine Y Llan.

Some see the cartoons as an attack on Islam and there have been violent demos after they appeared in European papers.

The Archbishop of Wales apologised to the Muslim Council of Wales, which accepted the “unfortunate mistake”.

International protests over cartoons, first published in a Danish paper last autumn, escalated after the images were republished in Norway, France, Germany, Italy and Spain earlier this year, despite complaints by ambassadors from Islamic countries.

You have to read the article carefully to realise that the published cartoon wasn’t one of the original Danish twelve, but a later one, printed in response to the furore:

The drawing – which was from the French magazine France Soir – shows the Prophet Muhammad sitting on a heavenly cloud with Buddha, and Christian and Jewish deities.

He is being told “don’t complain…we’ve all been caricatured here”.

Danish or not though, it’s clearly a horrendous insult to all Muslims, and one can only imagine what torments they must be going through. Luckily the authorities are suitably contrite:

The Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan wrote to Y Llan’s approximately 500 subscribers asking them to return their copies, which he said would be reprinted without the cartoon. Dr Morgan also personally contacted Saleem Kidwai, the Muslim Council of Wales’ general secretary, to apologise and to assure him that no offence had been intended.

In a statement, the Church said it was “thoroughly investigating” how the cartoon came to be reproduced.

It looks like Prince Charles’ message of tolerance is sorely needed. Faintly humourous depictions of the Prophet (pbuh) on one side, the death penalty for apostasy on the other….