Earlier we pointed out this end-of-the-line absurd piece from al-Reuters, arguing that the controversy over the Afghan convert is just like the Muslim world’s reaction to the Danish Mohammed cartoons.

ROME (Reuters) - The strong Western response to a threatened death sentence for an Afghan convert to Christianity looks something like a mirror image of the Muslim reaction to the Prophet Mohammad caricatures printed in the European press.

There have been no riots or sackings of Afghan embassies, unlike the violence that marked the uproar in Muslim countries after the Danish cartoons were published, but the shock and mutual incomprehension expressed in both cases are similar.

Well, the writer has had a change of heart since this morning. Now the two cases are completely different. Western, Muslim worlds clash again over religion. (Hat tip: Allah.)

Two months ago, political and religious leaders in the Muslim world were rounding on Western European media and governments for printing and defending caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad that they considered blasphemous.

The cases are clearly different. Western leaders from President George W. Bush down have spoken up to save the life of a man whose religious freedom is a universal human right which his judges say is secondary to Islamic law.