An insensitive Danish newspaper and hordes of brutish, intolerant Muslims all over the world have reopened the discussion about freedom of expression (page 5). Caricatures, one of which was interpreted as showing Prophet Mohammed of Islam as a terrorist, have been published in Denmark and reproduced in several countries. This witless art gave extremist Muslims the excuse to organise violent protests. Their intimidating tactics and destructive actions - possibly with encouragement from Muslim states - have also led to deaths in several continents.

The raging controversy has told us as much about Europe as it has about Islam: Europe has to learn how to handle its multicultural identity with a fearless and firm commitment to the principles of democracy. It would also greatly help integration of immigrants if European countries stopped selling arms to impoverished nations and adopted a more civilised foreign and trade policy. Meanwhile, Muslims - at least the ones who are vocal and whose claims to represent the community go uncontested - have many centuries to travel to modernise and to learn to be responsible citizens in modern democracies. We await enlightened policies from Europe, and we await an Enlightenment in Islam.

How can such an Enlightenment be fostered? An honest and open discussion about Islam is needed, and the basis for such a discussion has to be universal human values, not arrogant claims of superior civilisation or superior religion. But will it be possible, and can it be successful at all (page 4), even after the hysteria dies down?

For several centuries Christianity and Islam have had an unfriendly interaction, through crusades and jihads (page 9). Adding an interesting twist to this, Christians in India protested the 'blasphemous' burning of Danish flags, because the flags depict the Holy Cross. This was a reminder that despite its secular protestations, institutionally Europe remains a continent where the Church and State are close allies. After decades of cosy relationship with the religious, the European Commission at its highest level has finally acknowledged the existence of Humanists (page 14), but several political parties in Europe swear by a Christian ethic and genuflect to the power and influence of the Church - a Church which, when not playing a reactionary role, is absorbed in its own comically irrelevant agenda (page 11). The appalling story of Judge Tosti in Italy (see IHEU's website) is of course a rude reminder of how entrenched religion is in the continent.

Whether it is in Australia (page 12) or in Europe, religion gets unfair privileges - the French succeeded in righting this wrong a hundred years ago, but now this achievement is under serious threat (page 16). I had the honour of addressing the over 12,000 activists who assembled in Paris in December '05 to defend the 1905 French Law of Separation of Religion and State (page 20). In January we had the opportunity to witness another huge Humanist gathering in Tamil Nadu, India, to celebrate the achievements of the Self Respect Movement (page 8). Humanism has been greatly successful in South India, but despite huge advances, the battle against superstition continues (page 21).

The menace of creationism is still alive in the US - hopefully the recent judgement by William Jones III (page 22) will help to silence those who are opposed to Darwin's theory of biological evolution on religious grounds. Predictably they are also opposed to modern developments in biology, which is why the Bioethics Conference (page 27) IHEU is organising in New York City is important.

I hope to see you there!

Babu Gogineni