Mohammad cartoon contest in front of a Phoenix Mosque. What are your thoughts?

While I will side whole-heartedly on the side of 1st Amendment Rights, I also have to believe we should temper our exercise of such rights with good ole common sense. I have mixed feelings when it gets right down to it, but at the same time we don't need to be inviting a conflict by stirring the pot, either. I don't believe that our "infidel" struggle is necessarily against their prophet Mohammed so much as it is against the terrorist extremists themselves, and so maybe it would be best suited that if there is going to be a cartoon contest that it should involve caricatures of ISIS members. After all, it is THEY who are making the trouble, and THEY who are also making the threats against our free speech by showing up at these events with intentions to slaughter the participants for their offense.

By the same token, if we are expected to have to accept and learn to live with such things as the beliefs that fallen US Service members should not be honored on Memorial Day, which is about as offensive to me personally as anyone can get, outside of trampling on the National Colors and denouncing my country, then people of that ilk need to accept and learn to live with the cartoons. And we haven't even gotten into how religious beliefs have been taking a beating lately.

Just my 2 cents. Carry on. :D

If you Poke someone with a sharp stick do not be suprised if they strike back.

It is in poor taste.

I am a Humanist I have = measures of disdain for jihadists, evangelists, and anyone else who tries to shove their doctrine on people (take that WBC). I have HUGE contempt for both those calling for this provocative contest & those calling for exercising their right to carry. Don't get me wrong, I am PRO-Gun & PRO-Free Speech. This event sounds IMHO as potentially reckless as screaming "FIRE" in a theater. It is the Muslims who have to deal w/ living in the 21st century where Non-Muslims have the birthright to express our opinions on the ludicrousness of their religion just as 42% of our fellow Americans who believe the Earth is 10,000yrs old get laughed at by me. An armed society is big responsibility & this looks like it might get out of hand by reactionaries.

RELIGION RUINS EVERYTHING

i think nothing of it . but what does america think about the thousands of christians being murdered by islam?

I understand the 1st amendment and we are in America, but there is a sort of disrespect about how they are going about the whole event. We can be free to express our thoughts, but with a certain decorum. The Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest in Dallas wasn’t done at an Islamic Community Center it was held at a neutral site, and that showed respect and was in good taste in regards to what the event is about. Having a Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest outside a Phoenix mosque is pushing the envelope, and then having protesters shout obscenities and carry signs that read "F*** Islam", we can’t have it one way. If you want the 1st amendment upheld then show respect. Good judgement and common sense needs to prevail.

If they are offended tell them to move back to a Muslim country!

The problem with this sort of an event is that the almost two billion Muslims (like me) who acknowledge your right to free speech and though I do not like it and think it's a tasteless event with little to no benefit, I would not do much to stop it other than speaking to the leader one on one. The people who will react violently, which undoubtedly would amount to less than ten if anything did happen, are the people who the leader thinks represent all of Islam. It dumbfounds me.

Although amusing. It is never smart to taunt, or throw the first punch!

The extremists doing the provocative drawings are well within their rights, however that doesn't change the fact that what they are doing is offensive and disgusting. The fact that other extremists might show up and participate in violent acts that are even more offensive and disgusting doesn't change that.