Cover -- Contents -- Introduction -- Preface -- 1. The Rudi Carrell Affair in Germany -- Carrell v. Khomeini -- Khomeini's letter to Gorbachev -- The Iran-Iraq War -- Carrell's earlier spoofs -- Apologies to Iran -- More apologies and more controversies -- A new film -- 2. The Rudi Carrell Affair in the Netherlands -- A discussion between the minister and a journalist -- The Dutch Parliament on the Carrell Affair -- Carrell and other affairs -- The importance of humor -- The Carrell Affair as precedent -- Telephone justice -- The meaning of Carrell's apology -- Subdued tone of conversation -- A new sort of religious behavior -- Sense of humor and human emotions -- Not about freedom of the press -- 3. The Coherence of Theoterrorism -- Aboutaleb: the Mayor of Rotterdam -- The "village idiot" of Amsterdam -- The theoterrorists' profession of faith -- The Woolwich attack -- The Woolwich attack and the London bombings of 2005 -- The Woolwich attack and the murder of Van Gogh -- The theoterrorists argument analyzed -- Theocracy and democracy -- Two schools of thought -- The debate about the role of Islam -- Attacks on mosques -- The Netherlands, Denmark, and Great Britain -- 4. The Danish Cartoon Affair -- What are cartoons? -- Terrorizing the laicist state -- In good faith -- Why were the cartoons published? -- What did the Cartoon Affair prove? -- The dark sides of globalization -- Reactions to the cartoons -- Shouting fire and "senseless provocation" -- Can only Muslims criticize Islam? -- Tony Benn's call to "respect" for religion -- Thomas Jefferson's religious heterodoxy -- From cartoons to scholarly work: Jytte Klausen -- The refusal of Yale University Press to republish the cartoons -- Attacks and convictions -- 5. The Rushdie Affair and Charles Taylor -- Backing for Khomeini's judgment in the Iranian Parliament.

Khamenei's sermon on the Rushdie Affair -- The Islamist response -- Rushdie's apology -- Not a clash of civilizations but of visions -- The secular West against the religious Rest? -- Rushdie's own defense: the centrality of doubt -- The debate about revelation -- The right to express a humanist view of life -- "Wade through a filthy drain" -- The multiculturalist response of Taylor, Dummett, and others -- The later Taylor -- 6. The Rushdie Affair and Michael Dummett -- The legal and the moral -- Michael Dummett and the cause of anti-racism -- Dummett on Rushdie -- The tragedy of being an honorary white -- Whose pain? -- President Carter on the role of religion in brokering peace -- Rushdie knew what he was doing -- Rushdie, Nietzsche, Freud, and Spinoza -- Contemporary iconoclasts despised -- The realist response of John Berger and John Le Carré -- John Le Carré revisited and book burning -- Withdraw the book until a calmer time has come -- The political response and the press -- Some reactions by foreign states -- Other religious leaders -- Is reaching out a wise course to take? -- 7. Modern hostage taking -- Hostage taking in general -- Modern hostage taking -- Why modern hostage taking is so effective -- Contagious indignation -- The Kouachi Brothers' final declaration of loyalty -- Coda -- Their force or our weakness? -- Solutions -- References -- Index.