Is This Really a Freedom of Speech Issue?

The cartoons printed by the right-wing Danish paper, causing uproar around the world, have been defended on the grounds that they are free speech. Really? Or was this just, as suggested earlier, a bad editing decision?

Danish paper rejected Jesus cartoons

Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that first published the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that have caused a storm of protest throughout the Islamic world, refused to run drawings lampooning Jesus Christ, it has emerged today.

The Danish daily turned down the cartoons of Christ three years ago, on the grounds that they could be offensive to readers and were not funny.

So, they were willing to offend Muslims, but not Christians? How much more hypocritical can you get?

Oxes being gored, and all that.