All of these images have a few things in common. They were rendered by artists who had a respect for and belief in the religious figures shown. They are products of the time and culture which produced them. They bear no resemblance whatsoever to any known historically accurate representation of the individual pictured.
Those in the Muslim world who threaten violence over depictions of Mohammed are loony for threatening the violence in the first place. But more fundamentally, they are wrong to be offended at all, because no one can say what Mohammed looked like in the first place. One could make a stick figure and call it Mohammed, but so what? What is the point in any outrage. Further, the picture of Mohammed provided for this article, I will leave it to you to decide, was painted by a devout adherent to that religion, centuries ago. Muslims are sadly misreading their own traditions to take offense at all.
On a personal note, I believe firmly in freedom of speech, so I defend the right of cartoonists and South Park to portray religious figures any way they want. However, I feel that I should personnally respect people's religious beliefs, because, only in that way, can I fulfill the great commission that I believe I have been given.
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Great post. A link is on the way in a scheduled post.
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