Now that 21 May has come and gone with, shockingly, no Rapture, I offer the following for your consideration:
(courtesy friendlyatheist.com)
If you weren't aware, Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris proclaimed 20 May 2010 to be Everybody Draw Muhammad Day as a protest against the death threats and persecution that artists like South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, among many others, have faced for violating Islam's supposed prohibition on likenesses of their prophet, no matter how benign (I say supposed because this is far from a consensus view among Islamic scholars). The event gained an extraordinary amount of press and was a leading news story for several days last spring.
I am not content with Everybody Draw Muhammad Day being a one-time event. I think it needs to be annual, if not more frequent. To use a non-gender-neutral idiom, it takes a great deal more testicular fortitude to take a stand for free speech repeatedly, even if on the same topic, than to defend it once and move on. I therefore announce my intention to draw a respectful, non-threatening image of Muhammad every 20 May for the foreseeable future. I implore you all to do the same (and if this blog is still going at this time next year, send them to me and I'll share them on the site!).
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