Editing Blasphemy (section)

====Depictions of Muhammad====
{{see|Depictions of Muhammad}}

When the Danish newspaper [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy|''Jyllands-Posten'' decided to publish cartoons of Muhammad]], its editor-in-chief wrote an editorial that the newspaper was publishing the cartoons because Muslims had to get over their "sickly oversensitivity". Another editor looked upon it as a cultural initiation: "By making fun of people we're also including them in our society. It's not always easy for those concerned, but that the price they're got to pay".<ref>
Laborde C. The Danish Cartoon Controversy and the Challenges of Multicultural Politics: A Discussion of The Cartoons That Shook the World. Perspectives on Politics. 2011;9(3):603-605. doi:10.1017/S1537592711002817</ref> Editors expressed concern that Danish comedians, artists and so on were self-censoring because they were afraid of a violent response from Muslims. 

The global protests that erupted in February 2006 shocked the artists who submitted cartoons. After receiving a bomb threat one cartoonist was angry that Muslims fleeing persecution in their own countries would "want the laws they have fled" to be enforced in Denmark. The editors stood their ground: "Everyone had to accept being subject to satire."<ref name=Klausen>{{cite book |last=Klausen |first=Jytte |title=The Cartoons That Shook the World |publisher=Yale University Press |date=2009}}</ref>

[[Al Qaeda]] claimed responsibility for a car bombing at the Danish embassy in [[Islamabad, Pakistan]] in June 2008 which they said was revenge for the "insulting drawings".<ref name=Klausen/>

After the [[Charlie Hebdo attack]] in 2015 ''[[Je Suis Charlie]]'' became a rallying cry for secular, free speech advocates. The attacks took place in France where the culture of militant secularism celebrates blasphemy but permits viewpoint based restrictions and prior restraint of speech. [[Emmanuel Todd]] was very skeptical and critical of the "right to blasphemy" narrative. Skeptics thought it amounted to little more than ridicule of a marginalized group. Scholars rebutting Todd's study have found that many of the protestors were liberal, tolerant people who did not have Islamophobic or xenophobic views. For many of the ''Je Suis Charlie'' protestors the sentiment of the protest was simply: it is not ok to kill someone because they have offended you.<ref>{{cite book |title=After Charlie Hebdo: Terror, Racism and Free Speech |publisher=Zed Books |date=2017 |page=53-9}}</ref>