All across the Western world, a worrisome phenomenon is spreading. Fear of incurring Muslim wrath is leading politicians, journalists, artists, professors, teachers and business owners to censor themselves.

A series of historical precursors paved the way for things to come. The fatwa issued in 1989 by Ayatollah Khomeini against the life of "The Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushdie, the 2004 murder of Dutch "Submission" filmmaker Theo Van Gogh and last year's Danish cartoon controversy are just a few. Each time, blasphemy was the claim and violence the solution.

The recent comments of Pope Benedict XVI opened the floodgates once again.

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