UPI reports:
In Germany, Mozart bows to Mohammed
BERLIN, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- On the eve of the first German Islam Conference, a Berlin opera house has sparked controversy for canceling a Mozart show due to threats of Islamist violence.
The Deutsche Opera said in a statement security risks presented to the company by Berlin's police had caused them to cancel their show 'Idomeneo,' a Mozart opera in which King Idomeneo sets the severed heads of religious figures, including the Prophet Mohammed and Jesus Christ, on chairs and laughs at them.
The scene would pose an "incalculable security risk" for the house and its visitors, the opera said in a statement, referencing similar violence sparked by the cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad or the recent remarks by the pope.
More details here, including the following:
Ayyub Axel Koehler, the head of the Central Council of Muslims, one of Germany's largest Muslim groups, [said], "While we are absolutely in agreement with the need for a free press, free opinion and free arts, we also think that there are certain limits to those freedoms," he said. "If there are issues that most deeply hurt the feelings of believers, then one should be considerate, as it should be normal
among civilized persons." HT: Cliff May at The Corner.
UPDATE 9/28/06 - Roger Kimball concludes his article in Opinion Journal with these words:
Today it was Mozart. Tomorrow perhaps it will be Shakespeare. Or Dante, who after all has a pretty hot place reserved for Muhammad in "The Divine Comedy." It is not--not yet--too late to put a stop to our habit of appeasing a murderous fanaticism that demands privileges and indulgences it refuses to grant to others.
The spectacle of Deutsche Oper's decision to cancel "Idomeneo" suggests that the West's dealings with Islam have entered a new phase. Yesterday, we waited until after the Muslims took to the streets before capitulating; today, it appears we have moved on to pre-emptive capitulation.
Where will it end? I suppose that depends on how much we really care about the liberty and freedom we champion with words. Freedom, as some wit observed, is not free. Will we have the gumption to pay the cost? The jury is still out on that question. I hope and pray that the answer will be yes. "There is," G.K. Chesterton noted nearly 100 years ago, "a thought that stops thought. That is the only thought that ought to be stopped."