I’ve written many times that democracy and its institutions are the true religion of this country.   That’s  an extraordinary thing, entirely modern, and quite rare in history.

Accordingly, matters of faith in the public sphere are and must be subservient to those institutions, to the overarching principle of pluralism.  This means that your faith, my faith, everyone’s faith, might take its lumps from those who think it’s ridiculous.  And no matter how  sincerely you hold that faith, your recourse must needs be limited to that allowed by the institutions of the democracy.  Threats of force are the last resort of the ignorant who fear their faith cannot withstand the scrutiny that occurs in a marketplace of ideas (or in a nice skewering by South Park).

That said, here’s an image of Mohammad as a Teddy Bear, as seen on South Park (some commentary about the hullabaloo here).   This is blasphemous, according to a certain strain of Islam.  To that, I say pfft. And thanks, Trey and Matt.