Look at all the truly ugly things religions say about other religions, other gods. There is nothing in their holy dogma about having respect for other religions, indeed they are generally full of stories about how their god destroyed the wrong-believers.

Why should we have any respect for any religion, when it has no respect for anything but itself?

Ridicule is the only way to approach religion, it's the only way we're really going to be able to free ourselves of it.

Freedom of expression is a right. That includes expression that is rude or hateful, but to have a civilized society we must hope most people will act in good will. Some of the comments here certainly show a lack of that. I appreciate these two students, the Muslim and the atheist, and their courageous work.

This column supposedly reflects the thoughts of the guest bloggers Kelsey Sheridan and Saleha Mallick but one gets the impression that they are actually members of the Eboo Patel's "non-profit" group, the Interfaith Youth Core, which appears to be more of an investment company than a "non-profit". Said "non-profit" pays Eboo $120,000/yr some of it coming from donations, some coming from the tax-free interest, dividends and capital gains from Eboo's $2+ million investments in the stock and bond market.

Eboo

What a pity, apologetic Muslims try hard to look moderate and to become acceptable to their bosses, who always tell them do, more do more.

A death sentence for drawing Muhammad written into the Pakistani constitution? A dumbo philosophy combines with intolerance to create a land where there are more terrorists than trees. I see little hope for the Muslim world joining the modern progressive and secular world for the next 100 years. These fellow are bent on living in the dark ages. No knowledge, no philosophy, no concept apart from being brainwashed on Islam.

Off topic - added documentation supporting the first century CE existence of one illiterate, simple preacher man named Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary and Joseph:

80-110 1 Peter
80-120 Epistle of Barnabas
80-130 Gospel of Luke
80-130 Acts of the Apostles
80-140 1 Clement
80-150 Gospel of the Egyptians
80-150 Gospel of the Hebrews
80-250 Christian Sibyllines
90-95 Apocalypse of John
90-120 Gospel of John
90-120 1 John
90-120 2 John
90-120 3 John
90-120 Epistle of Jude
93 Flavius Josephus
100-150 1 Timothy
100-150 2 Timothy
100-150 Titus
100-150 Apocalypse of Peter
100-150 Secret Book of James
100-150 Preaching of Peter
100-160 Gospel of the Ebionites
100-160 Gospel of the Nazoreans
100-160 Shepherd of Hermas
100-160 2 Peter

3. Historical Jesus Studies, faithfutures.org/HJstudies.html,
-- "an extensive and constantly expanding literature on historical research into the person and cultural context of Jesus of Nazareth"

4. Jesus Database, faithfutures.org/JDB/intro.html--"The JESUS DATABASE is an online annotated inventory of the traditions concerning the life and teachings of Jesus that have survived from the first three centuries of the Common Era. It includes both canonical and extra-canonical materials, and is not limited to the traditions found within the Christian New Testament."

5. Josephus on Jesus mtio.com/articles/bissar24.htm

6. The Jesus Seminar, mystae.com/restricted/reflections/messiah/seminar.html#Criteria

7. Writing the New Testament- mystae.com/restricted/reflections/messiah/testament.html

8. Health and Healing in the Land of Israel By Joe Zias
joezias.com/HealthHealingLandIsrael.htm

9. Economics in First Century Palestine, K.C. Hanson and D. E. Oakman, Palestine in the Time of Jesus, Fortress Press, 1998.

10. 7. The Gnostic Jesus
(Part One in a Two-Part Series on Ancient and Modern Gnosticism)
by Douglas Groothuis: equip.org/free/DG040-1.htm

11. The interpretation of the Bible in the Church, Pontifical Biblical Commission
Presented on March 18, 1994
ewtn.com/library/CURIA/PBCINTER.HTM#2

continued below:

scriptural references:

Crucifixion of Jesus:(1) 1 Cor 15:3b; (2a) Gos. Pet. 4:10-5:16,18-20; 6:22; (2b) Mark 15:22-38 = Matt 27:33-51a = Luke 23:32-46; (2c) John 19:17b-25a,28-36; (3) Barn. 7:3-5; (4a) 1 Clem. 16:3-4 (=Isaiah 53:1-12); (4b) 1 Clem. 16.15-16 (=Psalm 22:6-8); (5a) Ign. Mag. 11; (5b) Ign. Trall. 9:1b; (5c) Ign. Smyrn. 1.2.- (read them all at wiki.faithfutures. Crucifixion org/index.php/005_Crucifixion_Of_Jesus )

Were these scriptural stories embellished? Yes, but the crucifixion is the constant event.

Added suggested readings:

1. Historical Jesus Theories, earlychristianwritings.com/theories.htm -- the names of many of the contemporary historical Jesus scholars and the titles of their over 100 books on the subject.

2. Early Christian Writings, earlychristianwritings.com/
-- a list of early Christian documents to include the year of publication
30-60 CE Passion Narrative
40-80 Lost Sayings Gospel Q
50-60 1 Thessalonians
50-60 Philippians
50-60 Galatians
50-60 1 Corinthians
50-60 2 Corinthians
50-60 Romans
50-60 Philemon
50-80 Colossians
50-90 Signs Gospel
50-95 Book of Hebrews
50-120 Didache
50-140 Gospel of Thomas
50-140 Oxyrhynchus 1224 Gospel
50-200 Sophia of Jesus Christ
65-80 Gospel of Mark
70-100 Epistle of James
70-120 Egerton Gospel
70-160 Gospel of Peter
70-160 Secret Mark
70-200 Fayyum Fragment
70-200 Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
73-200 Mara Bar Serapion
80-100 2 Thessalonians
80-100 Ephesians
80-100 Gospel of Matthew

continued below:

12. The Jesus Database- newer site:
wiki.faithfutures.org/index.php?title=Jesus_Database

13. Jesus Database with the example of Supper and Eucharist:
faithfutures.org/JDB/jdb016.html

14. Josephus on Jesus by Paul Maier:
mtio.com/articles/bissar24.htm

15. The Journal of Higher Criticism with links to articles on the Historical Jesus:
mtio.com/articles/bissar24.htm

16. The Greek New Testament: laparola.net/greco/

17. Diseases in the Bible:
etd.unisa.ac.za/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-08022006-125807/unrestricted/02dissertation.pdf
18. Religion on Line (6000 articles on the history of religion, churches, theologies,
theologians, ethics, etc.
religion-online.org/

19. The Jesus Seminarians and their search for NT authenticity:
mystae.com/restricted/reflections/messiah/seminar.html#Criteria

20. The New Testament Gateway - Internet NT ntgateway.com/

21. Writing the New Testament- existing copies, oral tradition etc.
ntgateway.com/

22. The Search for the Historic Jesus by the Jesus Seminarians:
members.aol.com/DrSwiney/seminar.html

23. Jesus Decoded by Msgr. Francis J. Maniscalco (Da Vinci Code review)jesusdecoded.com/introduction.php

24. JD Crossan's scriptural references for his book the Historical Jesus separted into time periods: faithfutures.org/Jesus/Crossan1.rtf

25. JD Crossan's conclusions about the authencity of most of the NT based on the above plus the conclusions of other NT exegetes in the last 200 years:
faithfutures.org/Jesus/Crossan2.rtf

26. Common Sayings from Thomas's Gospel and the Q Gospel: faithfutures.org/Jesus/Crossan3.rtf

27. Early Jewish Writings- Josephus and his books by title with the complete translated work in English :earlyjewishwritings.com/josephus.html

28. Luke and Josephus- was there a connection?
infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/lukeandjosephus.html

29. NT and beyond time line:
pbs.org/empires/peterandpaul/history/timeline/

30. St. Paul's Time line with discussion of important events:
harvardhouse.com/prophetictech/new/pauls_life.htm

31. See www.amazon.com for a list of JD Crossan's books and those of the other Jesus Seminarians: Reviews of said books are included and selected pages can now be viewed on Amazon. Some books can be found on-line at Google Books.

32. Father Edward Schillebeeckx's words of wisdom as found in his books.

33. The books of the following other On Faith panelists: Professors Marcus Borg, Paula Fredriksen, Elaine Pagels, Karen Armstrong and Bishop NT Wright.

34. Father Raymond Brown's An Introduction to the New Testament, Doubleday, NY, 1977, 878 pages, with Nihil obstat and Imprimatur.

35. Luke Timothy Johnson's book The Real Jesus,

Eboo,

Your hypocrysy is becoming risible. I cannot imagine how you think you will win the hearts and minds of the American people while, by your silence on Islamic racism, you endorse it. You endorse it, and you whine.

The Muslim Students Organization just a few years ago distributed loathsome pictures and anti-Jewish racist text throughout New York University via the internet. And your response? The response of the Muslim community?

TWENTY colleges have joined to protest Islamic molestation of Jewish students in America, Eboo, and where are you? Crying over chalk drawings. Boohoo.

Poorrrrr you. And the Jews of Yemen, Eboo?
The murdered young rabbi? The screaming Islamists shrieking "Convert or die" throughout ancient rural Jewish communities? The ending of a three-thousand-year-old civilization?

Pleez. Catholics did not like it when an offensive picture of the Virgin Mary was hung in the Brooklyn Museum. Though not Catholic, I didn't like it either, and joined with those who were offended. And that was that, Eboo. The picture remained.

Word to you and the other offended. GROW UP. Stop harassing Jews, women, gays, and the rest of us. Learn about the American culture, freedom of speech, etc. And for heaven's sake, stop whining.

There never was a jesus christ. However, yeal9 is welcome to wear a stick with the image of a dead Jew on it, real or imaginary.

Off topic:

From Professors Crossan and Watts' book, Who is Jesus.

"That Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate, as the Creed states, is as certain as anything historical can ever be.

“ The Jewish historian, Josephus and the pagan historian Tacitus both agree that Jesus was executed by order of the Roman governor of Judea. And is very hard to imagine that Jesus' followers would have invented such a story unless it indeed happened.

“While the brute fact that of Jesus' death by crucifixion is historically certain, however, those detailed narratives in our present gospels are much more problematic. "

“My best historical reconstruction would be something like this. Jesus was arrested during the Passover festival, most likely in response to his action in the Temple. Those who were closest to him ran away for their own safety.

I do not presume that there were any high-level confrontations between Caiaphas and Pilate and Herod Antipas either about Jesus or with Jesus. No doubt they would have agreed before the festival that fast action was to be taken against any disturbance and that a few examples by crucifixion might be especially useful at the outset. And I doubt very much if Jewish police or Roman soldiers needed to go too far up the chain of command in handling a Galilean peasant like Jesus. It is hard for us to imagine the casual brutality with which Jesus was probably taken and executed. All those "last week" details in our gospels, as distinct from the brute facts just mentioned, are prophecy turned into history, rather than history remembered."

See also Professor Crossan's reviews of the existence of Jesus in his other books especially, The Historical Jesus and also Excavating Jesus (with Professor Jonathan Reed doing the archeology discussion) .

Other NT exegetes to include members of the Jesus Seminar have published similar books with appropriate supporting references.

Part of Crossan's The Historical Jesus has been published online at books.google.com/books.

There is also a search engine for this book e.g. Search Josephus

See also Wikipedia's review on the historical Jesus to include the Tacitus' reference to the crucifixion of Jesus.

From ask.com,

"One of the greatest historians of ancient Rome, Cornelius Tacitus is a primary source for much of what is known about life the first and second centuries after the life of Jesus. His most famous works, Histories and Annals, exist in fragmentary form, though many of his earlier writings were lost to time. Tacitus is known for being generally reliable (if somewhat biased toward what he saw as Roman immorality) and for having a uniquely direct (if not blunt) writing style.

There never was a jesus christ. However, yeal9 is welcome to wear a stick with the image of a dead Jew on it, real or imaginary.

The idea of an atheist involved in "interfaith work" amuses. Wouldn't she have to work on interfaithlessness?

That said, the death threats "from a pair of isolated individuals" would be just that if it was not for the backdrop of other death threats against free expression from the Muslim faithful. Equating depictions, offensive or otherwise, with death threats when Theo Van Gogh was murdered and deadly riots in response to cartoons, is a false equivalence. No one has the right to murder or threaten murder because their sensibilities have been disturbed. While not wanting to offend myself, solidarity with free expression tempts me.

We are allways offended by something: the driver that turns the corner without flashing the light; the fanatic that yells in our face how great is his country / religion / race / whatever; the neighbor that doesn't clean his dog's mess, etc. But we don't get in a rampage claiming his head or asking for deadly punishment.
If muslims want to be accepted they better get used to be offended and to be tolerant of those offenses. I think that is the idea of the "Drawing Mohamed day". If they swallow their offense, as we swallow many offenses in order to live in peace and accept multiculturalism, the promoters of the day would be left with nothing: just a childish prank that all would see with indiference.
But if fanatics claim death to infidels and other muslims just look for lame excuses of how offended they are, the promoters have made their point.

And then there are these observations/ conclusions about Judaism and Christianity as noted many times on these blog pages:

1. Abraham founder/father of three major religions was either the embellishment of the lives of three different men or a
mythical character as was mythical Moses, the "Tablet-Man" who talked to burning bushes and made much magic in Egypt.
Many of the 1.5 million Conservative Jews and many of their rabbis have relegated Abraham to the myth pile along with most if not all the OT.

Current problems:

Realization that the Jews are not god's chosen people.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20E1EFE35540C7A8CDDAA0894DA404482

2. Jesus was an illiterate Jewish peasant/carpenter/simple preacher man who suffered from hallucinations and who has been characterized anywhere from the Messiah from Nazareth to a mythical character from mythical Nazareth to a mamzer from Nazareth (Professor Bruce Chilton, in his book Rabbi Jesus). Analyses of Jesus’ life by many contemporary NT scholars (e.g. Professors Crossan, Borg and Fredriksen, On Faith panelists) via the NT and related documents have concluded that only about 30% of Jesus' sayings and ways noted in the NT were authentic. The rest being embellishments (e.g. miracles)/hallucinations made/had by the NT authors to impress various Christian, Jewish and Pagan sects.

The 30% of the NT that is "authentic Jesus" like everything in life was borrowed/plagiarized and/or improved from those who came before. In Jesus' case, it was the ways and sayings of the Babylonians, Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Hittites, Canaanites, OT, John the Baptizer and possibly the ways and sayings of traveling Greek Cynics.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/theories.html

For added "pizzazz", Catholic/Christian theologians divided god the singularity into three persons and invented atonement as an added guilt trip for the "pew people" to go along with this trinity of overseers. By doing so, they made god the padre into god the "filicider".

Current problems:

Pedophiliac priests, atonement theology and original sin!!!!

3. Luther, Calvin, Joe Smith, Henry VIII, Wesley, Roger Williams, the Great “Babs” et al, founders of Christian-based religions or combination religions also suffered from the belief in/hallucinations of angelic visits and "prophecies" for profits analogous to the myths of Catholicism (resurrections, apparitions, ascensions and immaculate conceptions).

Current problems:

Adulterous preachers, "propheteering/ profiteering" evangelicals and atonement theology.

The koran demands that Muslim males dominate the world. Until this book is changed, no Muslim can be trusted.
---------------------
Just like what the bible says a bout christian males. Yeal9 yopu are really not helping your side.

Posted by: YEAL9"Respect for Mohammed? Give us a break!!!
Mohammed was an illiterate, womanizing, lust and greed-driven, warmongering, hallucinating Arab, who also had embellishing/hallucinating/plagiarizing scribal biographers who not only added "angels" and flying chariots to the koran but also a militaristic agenda to support the plundering and looting of the lands of non-believers."
------------------------------------
If you take a step back, that sounds an awful lot like Jesus and his 12 as described by non christians.

The koran demands that Muslim males dominate the world. Until this book is changed, no Muslim can be trusted.

“We emphasize the universal reality that people of different religious or philosophical traditions can work together in a respectful, constructive way without sacrificing their beliefs, ideals, or rights.”

You are both preaching to the choir. This call should be directed at the Muslim majority societies, who openly discriminate against the followers of other religions and truly believe those others do not deserve to live. I do not blame the atheist among the two authors because she might be ignorant of how the Muslim ideology relates to non-Muslims. The other should know better and definitely does but is hiding behind the Sharia sanctioned deception called “taqqiya”. For the benefit of the atheist author I list a link that should educate her on how Muslims are expected to treat the Christians and Jews living among them.
http://www.bible.ca/islam/islam-kills-pact-of-umar.htm

I find it strange, why are Muslims so special? They can be hurt for anything remotely connected to Mohammed but they can do whatever they want in the name of freedom and artistic expression. Check this out, the whole page. Compare the paintings from left to right. http://www.hindujagruti.org/activities/campaigns/national/mfhussain-campaign/

So, I say, carry on guys, draw a million cartoons of this muhammad in the name of artistic freedom. Let Pakistan block all internet and let them go back to their caves, to dark ages. Let them implode themselves.

Hello Ms. Kelsey Sheridan and Saleha Mallick:
Your sentiments are very noble in some sense and simply naive at the same time. Owing to your tender age I would not launch a tirade against your misplaced sense of fairness and unquestioning acceptance of others pretensions. However, I wish for you to ponder over a few critical questions I raise below:

1) Does the president of your university as a matter of standard operating procedures apologize or try ameliorate all groups whose feelings are hurt, for the actions of the school's students? Why do you think McSA should be afforded such special treatment. Is this the case of squeaky wheel gets the oil or is it the case lets not play with fire lest we burn our hands (actually I am asking were they petrified)?

2) You say "... the all-too-common unwillingness to understand differences and disregard for social responsibility" What is the social responsibility you are talking about? Do you suggest proselytizing should go on unabated and unchallenged by the islamists? Any challenge and ridicule to their tenets invokes threats of violence. If the islamists feelings are so tender then let them not come to the public square to proselytize, then there won't be any ridicule.

3) You both speak of the kumbhayah moment of SHIFT consulting McSA before launching their action. Why i sit incumbent upon SHIFT to have done that. Has McSA given anyone else a reason to think they are an open minded tolerant body. If they had protested the threats against South Park, then that would have engendered SHIFT to approach them. They did not, as usual they figured that the wackjobs amongst them have spared their tender feelings. So how can anyone blame SHIFT for not consulting. This is again another gratuitous case of hurt feelings.

I hope you both will ponder over these few questions I have raised. These are your formative years and I applaud you for jumping into these debates with both your feet. I hope you are not discouraged or jaded by some very inarticulate comments that may come your way. I look forward to seeing your thoughts on this blog often. Wish you both all the best. HIP, HIP HOORAY TO BOTH OF YOU.

Respect for Mohammed? Give us a break!!!

Mohammed was an illiterate, womanizing, lust and greed-driven, warmongering, hallucinating Arab, who also had embellishing/hallucinating/plagiarizing scribal biographers who not only added "angels" and flying chariots to the koran but also a militaristic agenda to support the plundering and looting of the lands of non-believers.

This agenda continues as shown by the massacre in Mumbai, the assassinations of Bhutto and Theo Van Gogh, the conduct of the seven Muslim doctors in the UK, the 9/11 terrorists, the 24/7 Sunni suicide/roadside/market/mosque bombers, the 24/7 Shiite suicide/roadside/market/ mosque bombers, the Islamic bombers of the trains in the UK and Spain, the Bali crazies, the Kenya crazies, the Pakistani “koranics”, the Palestine suicide bombers/rocketeers, the Lebanese nutcases, the Taliban nut jobs, and the Filipino “koranics”.

And who funds this muck and stench of terror? The warmongering, Islamic, Shiite terror and torture theocracy of Iran aka the Third Axis of Evil and also the Sunni "Wannabees" of Saudi Arabia.

Current crises:

The Sunni-Shiite blood feud and the warmongering, womanizing (11 wives), hallucinating founder.