(APE) Al Jazeera struck back today on the heels of worldwide rioting which resulted from the publication of 12 drawings in the Danish press. The drawings, various depictions of Allah and Mohammed, were subsequently reprinted throughout the European press, resulting in widespread rioting by Muslims who found them offensive. Today, in answer, Al Jazeera published its own rendition of Christ from a contest conducted throughout the Middle East this last week. The winning drawing depicted George Bush as Christ gently coddling a nuclear weapon with a mushroom cloud in the background.
The contest itself was controversial as fundamental Islamists prohibit the depiction of any religious figure be it Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, or any other faith.
A spokesman for Al Jazeera denied that this was a direct attempt to incite rioting and violence in America as had been experienced earlier this week in the Middle East. He stated that the news agency was frankly surprised at what was instead an overwhelming number of requests for reprints, sales, and marketing deals.
“Our polls are showing an almost 60% positive response to the artwork overall, and when the responses are broken down over the various denominations of Christianity, there is almost a 98% positive response from fundamental and evangelical Christians,” he stated. “In fact, the only hate mail, if you will, came from a Reverend Phelps, a pastor of a small church in Idaho.”
“Allah does indeed work in mysterious ways,” the spokesperson stated with a smile. “If our revenue projections are accurate, we will be able to outfit over a dozen new state-of-the-art camera crews, and upgrade the armor on all personnel and vehicles that we currently have in Iraq to a level equal or better than that of the average American occupation force.”
White House spokesperson Scott McClellan stated that the Bush administration was also puzzled over the absence of a backlash in America. He wrote it off as a cultural difference between the average American, and the average citizen in the middle east. “Here in America we are much more comfortable with icons and idolatry and that the fine gray line that separates the two.”
