- Other atheists enraged -

Copenhagen, Denmark (Berlingske Tidende) — Danish atheist threatens illustrator at Danish newspaper "Information" after discovery of blank illustrations.

In an angry letter to the illustrator, a Danish atheist warned the illustrator that he will suffer fatally from the twelve blank pages that were discovered on his desk last week.



Twelve blank illustrations have triggered the rage of Danish atheists who demand an apology.

The Danish Atheists and Non-believers Group (DANG) feels that the twelve drawings are intentionally mocking their non-belief, but have until now remained relatively calm as the story about the blank pages had not hit mainstream media until the threat was issued.

The police believe that the atheist may have been inspired by the rage following the spiteful Danish caricatures of the Moslem prophet Mohammed, but a spokesperson from DANG denies the connection:

"The illustrator himself may have been inspired to not create twelve drawings, but our reaction cannot be compared to the Moslem protests. The caricatures of Mohammed are a Danish tradition of maintaining a national identity by mocking out-groups that Moslems must learn to accept. That's what we mean by freedom of speech in this country. It's the right of the majority to say what they want against any minority. But the twelve blank pages is the complete opposite. It is an abuse of the freedom of speech. The illustrator is mocking our right to say nothing."

DANG has complained to the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, but the Prime Minister refuses to acknowledge the atheist complaints. "Our country is founded on Christian principles, and atheists must learn to accept our dedication to that tradition," says Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. "That left-wing subversive newspaper should stay put on most issues, but as was the case for our official political newsletter, Jyllands Posten, I will not deny any newspaper its right to say anything that supports our government's policy."

The editor of Information, Palle Weis, will not apologize to the atheists, who argue that the newspaper supports its illustrator's intent by not publishing the blank pages, thus making the absence of religion even more evident. Palle Weis denies any such intent in today's editorial where he explains that:

“ ” Democracy demands a free press, and the very minute any media were to publish specific material on demand, it would be the end of our civilization as we know it. When certain areas are consistently omitted by the media, then it is not a sign of persecution when one particular such occasion is not mentioned in the media either. The media propagates religious views, and if this tradition were broken and atheism or other scholarly or secular aspects were to receive attention, our believing readers would experience persecution in the form of a deliberate deemphasis of their role. No atheist can honestly say today that they are suddenly being targeted when there was nothing about them to begin with.

The atheist rage in Denmark has already spread to other countries. Atheist spokesperson in the US, Bill McConnell, states that atheists in the US would be wise to support their Danish brethren, as the Danish illustrator portrays a deliberately misleading image of the atheist stance. Bill McConnell explains:

"Open any publication of ours and you'll find that ninety-five percent is bashing of Christian theology. Most of us are former Christians, and we need Christianity as a counter-belief. But these twelve illustrations don't even have a caricature of Jesus on them, and no atheist would be caught dead not thinking about Jesus or God. It is completely wrong to assume that atheists can exist outside of a Christian discourse, but that's exactly the misrepresentation that these illustrations are deliberately trying to convey."

The furor over the twelve illustrations has birthed a new group, Moderate Atheist Danes (MAD), whose goal is to ease the tension between non-believers. MAD calls for a broader non-belief and disagrees with the traditional dependency on Christianity. In a press release, MAD explains that in a nation with multiple cultures atheism cannot focus exclusively on traditional Christianity, but must also take into account the non-existence of other gods.

Fearing another wave of boycotts of Danish products, Danish manufacturers urge the libertarian Danish Prime Minister to remember that economy has higher priority than human beings. Industry analysts say that the manufacturers need not worry, however. "When Danish dairy giant Arla recently lost money as a result of the Mohammed caricatures, it was this very concern that softened the Prime Minister's stance against the ethnic groups that he had previously declared arch-enemies of our state and culture. Arla is great, and the Prime Minister will follow the will of Arla," says chief of the Danish government's Industry Interest Group, Thorleif Nielsen.