Why Do Cartoonists Draw Insulting Images of Muhammad? (Spoiler: Not Just to Upset the Religious)

Philosopher Stephen Law offers an explanation for why cartoonists lampoon faith:

… more often than not, the lampooning is done with the intention of shattering, if only for a moment, the protective façade of reverence and deference that has been erected around some iconic figure or belief, so that we can all catch a glimpse of how things really are. At such times, lampooning can become great art.

Over the past few years, a lot of those cartoons have been drawn in response to the outrage by reli...