Religion of peace threatens yet another artist

First, it was Theo van Gogh, murdered for creating a film which depicted the stories of abused Muslim women.  (Actually, there may have been any number of people before him, but he is the first which comes to mind.)  Then, it was the Danish cartoon incident, in which nearly one hundred innocent people were murdered in rioting, after a newspaper printed a cartoon (!) of Mohammed.  Now, even the creators of South Park are not safe.  After Trey Parker and Matt Stone created an episode which depicted Mohammed, the website RevolutionMuslim.com posted a message which suggested that Parker and Stone would end up like Mr. van Gogh.  In simple terms, Parker and Stone should fear for their lives.  RevolutionMuslim.com was also kind enough to list the addresses of Comedy Central's New York headquarters, as well as of South Park's Los Angeles production studios.  In response to all of this, Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR described revolutionmuslim.com as "an extreme fringe group that has absolutely no credibility within the Muslim community."

My issue with this entire incident is not to take any Muslim organization to task for speaking up or not speaking up.  Frankly, I agree with Mr. Hooper's assessment as to the influence and popularity of RevolutionMuslim.com.  My issue is this: Is there anyone who is the slightest bit surprised that such a threat would emanate from the Muslim world?  The Virgin Mary can be depicted with elephant dung, a crucifix can be dipped in urine, and St. Peter's Basilica can be destroyed by a gigantic tidal wave, and there is nary a hint of a violent response by the Christian community.  (The closest parallel I could think of regarding the Jewish community was Leonard Nimoy's Shekhina (WARNING: Nudity), in which he depicted women in various states of nudity wearing Jewish ritual objects.  From even the furthest right Ultra-Orthodox sect, there was not a whiff of suggestion that Mr. Nimoy had reason to fear for his life.)  Can you imagine if any Christian or Jewish group would issue such a threat?  After the laughing subsided, the threatened artist would say, "No, really, who's calling?  Yeah, right."

Why is it that the only ones who ever threaten the lives of those who supposedly insult their religion are Muslims?  Christians have their faith insulted and made fun of on a regular basis on television and in films.  Yet not even Dogma or The Last Temptation of Christ could elicit anything close to what the aforementioned incidents elicited from Muslims.  One cannot merely chalk up these over-the-top reactions to coincidence, or to overly zealous practitioners of their faith.  There seems to be a disturbing characteristic of modern day Islam: When perceiving a slight to their faith or prophet, Muslims are quite likely to lash out violently. 

The simple fact today is that if any religion's adherents will react violently when they feel their religion is being attacked, it is a virtual certainty that the religion will be Islam.  Yet so many (particularly in the open, liberal, western world), are afraid of stating this obvious truth.  Why?  Surely it cannot be because they are unaware of the overwhelming statistics.  Perhaps it is because they fear for their own lives should they point this out?

Nah, that would be too deliciously ironic.  Any other ideas?

See also:

• New York Post editorial - The Cowards of Comedy Central (April 24, 2010)
• New York Times' Ross Douthat - Not Even in South Park? (April 25, 2010)
  
• Seattle cartoonist launches "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" (April 25, 2010)
  
• MSNBC - Yale draws criticism for nixing Muslim cartoons (September 8, 2009)
  
• Dennis Prager - Now Yale Embarrasses the Idea of the Western University (August 18, 2009)