Reuters: "Mohammad cartoon protests aren't unique to Islam"

For those with a taste for the weirdly apologetic:

The violence linked to cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad is not unique to Islam, experts say, and the protests reflect political and cultural passions more than the faith's core values.

Looking for distinct features that would make Islam liable for the cartoon-related violence around the world does little to explain it, said the Rev. Patrick Gaffney, an anthropologist and expert on Islam at the University of Notre Dame.

"There are parallel behaviors in every tradition," he said. "Buddhism has a violent strain despite its pacifism ... You think about Hinduism and nonviolence but (Mohandas) Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu."

I hear that Mormons go absolutely nuts over representations of Mohammed.

Other examples of religious violence involving various faiths abound in recent and past history. But attention has focused on Muslims this year as at least 11 people have been killed in protests in the Middle East, Asia and Africa after the publication of cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammad in newspapers in Denmark and elsewhere.

"You can't say Islam has a gene for violence," Gaffney said. "It has to do with the dynamics, political and economic, that are at play right now," especially in Europe where there has been a long history of anti-Islamic prejudice that represents "an underlying kind of powder keg."

Is there a "a long history of anti-Islamic prejudice" in Syria?

Tags: cartoons, Prophet-cartoons, Denmark, Islam