Mohammad Child Bride Book Hits US Early

Is Metropolitan Museum of Art getting jihad jitters?

(NEWSER) - New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art may be burying its collection of Islamic art, all in the name of political correctness.Three ancient renderings of the prophet Mohammed are no longer on display. “This is typical of the Met—trying to avoid any controversy,” an inside source tells the New York Post , while a museum rep insists the pieces simply don’t fit within the current theme. More»

Random House feared violence over work on prophet's child bride

(NEWSER) - Random House has pulled a book about the life of Mohammed due to be published this week, Reuters reports. The company feared that The Jewel of Medina, a historical novel and love story about Mohammed and Aisha—a child bride who was engaged to the prophet when she was 6—might rile Islamic radicals and endanger the lives of employees. More»

(NEWSER) - Pakistan has decided it's had about 139 characters too many of Twitter, yanking the microblogging site over material it says is offensive to Islam, reports al-Jazeera . The material in question was promoting a Facebook contest to post images of the prophet Mohammed—which are considered blasphemous, even those framed in positive terms. "We have been negotiating with them [Twitter] until last night, but they did not agree to remove the stuff, so we had to block it,'' says the country's telecommunications chief. No word on how long Twitter will be down. More»

Host won't 'apologize for being a proud Westerner'

(NEWSER) - Bill Maher isn't backing down from his controversial remarks on Islam and Muslims . The HBO host told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that he doesn't feel the need to "apologize for being a proud Westerner," Mediaite reports. By Westerner, Maher explained, "I mean someone who believes in the values that Western people believe in that a lot of the Muslim world does not. Like separation of church and state. Like equality of the sexes. Like respect for minorities, free elections, free speech, freedom to gather." More»

'It's not because of the race, it's because of the religion'

(NEWSER) - Bill Maher, no fan of organized religion, isn't thrilled with news out of Britain that Mohammed is the most popular baby name there. “Am I a racist to feel alarmed by that?” he asked on his Real Time show last night, reports Mediaite . “Because I am. And it’s not because of the race, it’s because of the religion. I don’t have to apologize, do I, for not wanting the Western world to be taken over by Islam in 300 years?” More»