There's plenty of thin skin to go around these days, and it's not all Muslim.

We get complaints sometimes from Christians about editorial cartoons that make fun of religious figures. The ones that get the most complaints are those that show Jesus or God The Father looking bewildered, tired or angry when faced with something said by, say, Pat Robertson.

One local newspaper also pulled an entire two weeks from the popular, and innocuous, comic "For Better or For Worse" when the character Lawrence "came out" because they feared it would offend their conservative Christian readership. (This happened long before 9/11, and long before the ridiculous "Stop the War on Christmas" protest.) What that action did was to inspire a flurry of letters from offended fans of the comic strip. The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again.

Things also have to be judged on a case-by-case basis. Imagine an editorial cartoon of Moses depicted as a classic anti-Semitic stereotype. Moses, Jesus and Mohammed are in the same league, from a Muslim point of view, with Mohammed being first among equals, the Seal of the Prophets. If a cartoon depicts him as a foaming-at-the-mouth lunatic or contemplating sex with a camel, this would go beyond the realm of appropriate political commentary, crossing into inflammatory speech, not to mention bad taste. Imagine a political cartoon supporting gay rights that depicted Jesus and the Apostles in a gay bathhouse, and you can see what I mean.