Posted by Horus Gilgamesh on May 31, 2015 in |

UPDATE: Just two days after sharing this post, Boston police shot and killed a terror suspect who vowed to kill an American cartoonist/activist. (Meanwhile, internet tough-guys are still calling me a “coward” and a “pussy” for continuing our original focus on the Bible, while others are calling me a “hypocritcal Islamaphobic racist”. Because… well, of the post below.)

I believe in religious freedom – the right for anyone to worship whatever gods they choose to believe in (as long as those beliefs do not infringe on the rights and freedom of others). I also believe in free speech – the power to challenge rational societies into asking important questions. Lastly, I believe in the right to live without fear. Sadly, as is the case with many religions, these concepts are often mutually exclusive.

After a great deal of consideration and wise counsel, I’ve decided to cancel the controversial Kid’s Koran project we’ve been and hinting about over the past year. Why?

1. Because of a small group of fringe maniacal “radical” bullies who equate the transfer of lead and pigments into shapes on paper as blasphemy – punishable by death (more below).

2. Two of my collaborators are ex-Muslims living in areas of Europe with extreme tension at the moment and are no longer comfortable being associated with the project (more below).

3. We have been receiving more suspicious “phishing” attempts than usual, coming from Arabic (not necessarily Muslim) “characters” offering to buy our pages, inviting us to speak at events, wanting to conduct in-person interviews, etc… (As long as we first provide our personal information for verification of payments.)

4. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much time and energy any “response” would require – taking us away from the primary focus of this page and related projects that are focused on the Bible and Christianity (the majority religion/culture that most regularly affects me as an American.) In short, there are only so many hours in the day, and I need to pick my battles strategically. (After all, this is not my day job.)

It has been one thing to receive death threats from Christians over our past books on the Bible, but I’ve never really taken those threats all-too-seriously as they seem to be mostly the blusterings of a religious majority that has gotten used to bullying minorities of all types, the sort of stuff you hear in a bar when somebody insults a Christian. However, I’ll admit – I do take the threats from militant/radical/extemist Islamic fundamentalists much more seriously. For someone who spends a large amount of time illustrating and speaking about the challenges posed by any religion, I don’t think this makes me a bigot, but a realist, as more and more cartoonists are murdered, threatened, and silenced for good.

Some people may be willing to die for their religion, but I gave up the intoxicating dreams of martyrdom when I was finally able to escape the less-violent-but-similarly-oppressive confines of Christianity. In short, I like my head right where it is, thank you very much! There’s simply too much to live for in this life, without needing to hope for the fairy tale promises of an afterlife that nobody has ever proven to exist.

When the Kid’s Koran was almost complete at the first of the year, our tw0 ex-Muslim contributors/consultants on the project became very concerned over terrorist attacks against satirical cartoonist in their home countries. So, we paused to think more carefully about security, risks, etc… As we finished the project, more bloggers were being killed overseas and we received the first shipment of galley/preview copies the week before the attempted attacks in Texas earlier this month. These events much closer to home suddenly brought the apprehension of my overseas friends into a new perspective. While we might seem paranoid or jumping to conclusions to the average American office worker, the dangers and risks feel quite real, personal, and infuriating to each of us as illustrators, bloggers, and “activists” who are critical of organized religions. At the end of the day, the decision was not mine alone, but a collective choice by all of our families and (few) friends who were aware of the project. The consensus was simple, “Choose your battles wisely and live to fight another day.”

“Why didn’t I choose to depict Muhammad having sex? The answer is simple: I don’t want to get blown up with explosives. I am afraid of angering Muslims but not afraid of angering Jews and Christians, so I choose to depict the Judeo-Christian God instead. It seems extremely obvious to me, but so many people asked.” – Sarah Silverman

Yes, many people will choose to call me (or Penn Jillette or Sarah Silverman) a hypocrite for “only challenging the Bible” or a coward for “giving in to the enemy,” (as they use fake troll profiles to post random existing drawings of Muhammad to show how tough they are). Yet, it’s quite a different matter to publish an entire book of original illustrations that not only questions the teachings of a long-dead prophet and absentee deity, but also challenges the culture of modern Islam today. Honestly, we were less worried about the three illustrations of Muhammad than we were about the overall concept of western infidels (kafir) having the audacity to critique the Qur’an and/or challenge Islamic culture as a whole.



So, congratulations, Islam! You’ve managed to oppress yet another infidel into silent submission thanks your religion’s all-too-typical-yet-unoriginal-heavy-handed scare tactics. In doing so, you aren’t doing yourself any favors, but simply creating new enemies – those who believe in freedom from the dangerous oppressive religions that continue to impede society today. Ironically, much of the book was devoted in (partial) defense of “mainstream” Islam, showing how fundamentalists (much like their Christian counterparts) go out of their way to pervert certain texts to support their own political/tribal ideologies.

For all of the moderate mainstream Muslims who might be offended by anything I’ve said here, I feel for you. The same way I feel for moderate Christians who are constantly lumped in with the likes of Fred Phelps, Franklin Graham, and most recently, Josh Duggar. But, let me just remind you – it’s still your religion, not mine. Sure, sure – you can distance yourself as much as possible by claiming that self-described Islamic terrorists are “not real Muslims”, but just as I reminded my Christian friends back in my days of ministry, silence is agreement. As such, if you have a problem with “radicals” giving your religion a bad name, the problem is yours, not mine – speak up! While I no longer have any fear of Hell (or Jahannam), I do fear the actions of humans, carried out in the name of conveniently elusive gods made in their own primal images.

I would like to state emphatically that this project is not being cancelled out of any sort of respect for any irrational ancient religions that threaten to silence critical thinking and/or satirical questioning with death. No, it is being cancelled because of very rational fears brought on by the reality that such threats (and actions) are still carried out today – in 2015 – right under the noses of a modern society in the light of day, all in the name of [a prophet nobody has ever met who made a series of unprovable promises in exchange for their willingness to kill to prove their devotion].

As much as I’m frustrated to live in a world where it’s still necessary to “kill” creative projects to keep from being killed, as Penn Jillette said regarding Islam, “The worst thing you can say about a group in a free society is that you’re afraid to talk about it.” So, we’ll let the cancellation of this project speak for itself (for now) and I will join the long list of “cowards” who’d rather enjoy a glass of wine with family and friends rather than dying over… a book that has already been used to end millions of lives and silence many more.



Cheers to reason,

– Horus Gilgamesh