Can Secularism Survive?
excerpt from WSJ article....
Ready to Die' for Muhammad
In Pakistan, about 5,000 supporters of radical Islamic groups demonstrated in the capital, Islamabad -- the biggest turnout since protests against the cartoons began about a week ago.
In a fiery speech, Mian Aslam, a leader of a coalition of Islamic groups, urged Pakistan to sever ties with all those countries with newspapers that published the drawings.
In Bangladesh, more than 5,000 Muslims watched by hundreds of riot police marched on Denmark's embassy in the capital, Dhaka, burning the country's flag and shouting, "Death to those who degrade our beloved prophet!" Small demonstrations were also held in Indonesia, where protesters burned tires in one town.
About 175 students at an Islamic school in Surabaya, in East Java province, signed a pact saying they are "ready to die" for Prophet Muhammad, and would confront any Danes they met, said their headmaster, Yusuf Muhajir.
"The will ask Danish citizens wherever they meet to apologize," Mr. Muhajir said. "They will be slapped if they refuse to apologize. The slap is a merely intended as a lesson, instead of hurting them." Denmark earlier this week advised its citizens to leave Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country.
Hundreds of angry Muslims burned a mock Danish flag outside a mosque in the Philippine capital, Manila, demanding an apology from Denmark's prime minister and punishment for the newspaper that first published the caricatures.
"Muslims love Prophet Muhammad. Peace be upon him," read a banner carried by the protesters.
Malaysia's Internal Security Ministry late Thursday declared that it was an offense for anyone to publish, produce, import, circulate or possess the prophet caricatures.
It said the measure was ordered to curb the circulation of material that could disrupt public order in Malaysia.
It did not specify what penalties offenders faced.
The ministry indefinitely closed a small newspaper, the Sarawak Tribune, on Thursday after it reproduced one of the caricatures, despite an apology from the publishers for what they called an editorial oversight.
Malaysia's newspapers operate under government license.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Friday that he considered the violent reactions to the cartoons "completely disproportionate to the offense that could possibly have been given."
