Sincere thanks for your comments. I did not mean to hurt your ears. The intent of my Letter to the Editor was not to hurt anyone. I felt I had the right to voice concerns that I have about fearing to be able to speak (not act) up. You make some good points in your reply. The history of mankind is replete with violent things done in the name of religious belief. I just don't know of any devout followers of Jesus Christ who are true to his teachings in the New Testament and are threatening to kill or are actually killing anyone in his name or to defend his honor. If this is happening, please tell me where. In all fairness, there are myriads of devout followers of Mohammed who do indeed threaten to do violence or actually do violence in the name of the Prophet or to defend his honor.
Please correct me if I am mistaken.
Yours,
David Bobkowski

NO religious devout follower would kill randomly as the terrorists do, nor as we do and have done before (atom bomb). About 75,000 to 100,000 Iraqis have also been killed since 2002 by "devouts." Many of us do not speak up against that either!

FourLeggedWord,
Mr. Bobkowski's point was that if you say something negative about Mohammed or Islam, you risk being the target of threats and real violence. If you think this is not true, you are simply disconnected from reality. The proofs of this pathology are too numerous and too obvious to recount.
He is worried about the possibility of some those not-too-uncommon Islamic extremists coming in to our county along with the moderate, reasonable ones. THis is a legimitate concern.
To say that Christians are just as guilty and cite examples like the Ku Klux Klan and the Holocaust is silly. Name me one example of Christians becoming violent in the street in reaction to an insult to Jesus Christ or the history of the religion itself.
Islam began its spread with the sword and has relied on violence for its expansion ever since. There have been tolerant, moderate Muslims and regimes, but the history is dominated by violence and by a holy book which extols violence as a means to conversion and expansion.
The New Testament is completely devoid of such sentiments. The initial expansion of Christianity occured in spite of violence directed at its followers, not by violence perpetrated by them. The history and fundamental world-view of the 2 faiths couldn't be more different.
Examples of violence done in the name of Christ are usually fallacious, inaccurate, or, at best, examples of individuals abusing the name of the Faith and acting in contradiction to its principles.
Please explain to me how Muslim terrorists are acting against the principles of Islam, and your answer would need to be comprehensive and take into account the contradictory statements on violence in the Koran.

“This pig should have his head cut off.”

It sounds like a threat to free speech to me. I find it interesting that you can condemn someone as intolerant for expressing his legitimate concern for safety but failed to address the central issue of his letter…the Islamic death threats.

We live in a free society that enables us to express our thoughts and ideas, popular or not, without the fear of reprisal. In this open forum, no person, subject or entity is provided a protected status that exempts them from scrutiny, discussion or criticism. If that is more than the Muslim community can bear, perhaps it does not belong in a free society.