The Rushdie Affair, the Danish Cartoon Affair, the assault on Charlie Hebdo, and the earlier Carrell Affair, are examples of religious fanatics' extreme reactions to religious satire and criticism. Perpetrators of these actions consider themselves as true believers. This book aims to understand their motives by means of the concept of theoterrorism: terrorism grounded in religious zealotry.

Paul Cliteur is professor of jurisprudence at the University of Leiden. He has been visiting professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, and at Ghent University. He is the author of The Secular Outlook (2010) and coeditor of The Fall and Rise of Blasphemy Law (2016).

Introduction by Bassam TibiPreface1. The Rudi Carrell Affair in GermanyCarrell v. KhomeiniKhomeini's letter to GorbachevThe Iran-Iraq WarCarrell's earlier spoofsApologies to IranMore apologies and more controversiesA new film2. The Rudi Carrell Affair in the NetherlandsA discussion between the minister and a journalistThe Dutch Parliament on the Carrell AffairAn analysis of the Dutch Carrell AffairThe importance of humorThe Carrell Affair as precedentTelephone justiceThe meaning of Carrell's apologySubdued tone of conversationA new sort of religious behaviorSense of humor and human emotionsNot about freedom of the press3. The Coherence of TheoterrorismAboutaleb: the Mayor of RotterdamThe "village idiot" of AmsterdamThe theoterrorists' profession of faithThe Woolwich attackThe Woolwich attack and the London bombings of 2005The Woolwich attack and the murder of Van GoghTheocracy and democracyTwo schools of thoughtThe debate about the role of IslamAttacks on mosquesThe Netherlands, Denmark, and Great Britain4. The Danish CartoonsWhat are cartoons?Terrorizing the laicist stateIn good faithWhy were the cartoons published?What did the cartoon affair prove?The dark sides of globalizationReactions to the cartoonsShouting fire and "senseless provocation"Can only Muslims criticize Islam?Tony Benn's call to "respect" for religionThomas Jefferson's religious heterodoxyFrom cartoons to scholarly work: Jytte KlausenThe refusal of Yale University Press to republish the cartoonsAttacks and convictions5. The Rushdie Affair and Charles TaylorBacking for Khomeini's judgment in the Iranian ParliamentKhamenei's sermon on the Rushdie AffairThe Islamist responseRushdie's apologyNot a clash of civilizations, but of visionsThe secular West against the religious Rest?Some early Muslim reactions to the publication of The Satanic VersesRushdie's own defense: the centrality of doubtThe debate about revelationThe right to express a humanist view of life"Wade through a filthy drain"The multiculturalist response of Taylor, Dummett, and othersThe later Taylor6. The Rushdie Affair and Michael DummettThe legal and the moralMichael Dummett and the cause of anti-racismDummett on RushdieThe tragedy of being an honorary whiteWhose pain?President Carter on the role of religion in brokering peaceRushdie knew what he was doingRushdie, Nietzsche, Freud and SpinozaContemporary iconoclasts despisedThe realist response of John Berger and John Le CarréJohn Le Carré revisited and book burningWithdraw the book until a calmer time has comeThe political response and the pressSome reactions by foreign statesOther religious leadersIs reaching out a wise course to take?7. Modern hostage takingHostage taking in generalModern hostage takingWhy modern hostage taking is so effectiveContagious indignationThe Kouachi Brothers' final declaration of loyaltyCodaTheir force or our weakness?SolutionsReferencesIndex