Islamic anger over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad continues to swell across the globe, report London correspondent Al Webb and Washington correspondent David Barnes: Islamic anger over published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad continued to erupt Monday, with deadly violence in Afghanistan and a defense of economic boycotts in the U.S., all while Danish cartoonists hid in terror. At a Washington press conference, leaders of several Islamic-American groups defended the fairness of boycotts against Danish companies as a response to the caricatures first published in a Denmark newspaper. The 12 Danish cartoonists are hiding out in their homeland, terrified and fearing they could be killed, a spokesman told a British newspaper. In Afghanistan, thousands of protesters gathered, and a few were reportedly killed by Afghan troops.

Michele Chabin in Jerusalem writes that Christians and moderate Muslims are worried about the Hamas victory and the possibility of Sharia law: Moderate Muslims and Christians in the West Bank and Gaza are worried that with its victory in the Palestinian election, Hamas will apply a strict interpretation of Islamic law that will hinder religious freedom. Almost as soon as the Jan. 25 election results were in, Sheikh Mohammed Abu Teir, the No. 2 candidate on the Hamas election list, announced that the movement plans to introduce Shariah, the religious law of Islam. This has set off alarms because non-Muslims face varying degrees of discrimination in countries where Shariah is stringently practiced. In the case of Saudi Arabia, religious minorities may be legally prohibited from practicing their faith and denied citizenship. In Egypt, minorities are often denied the same educational and employment opportunities afforded to Muslims.

In time for Valentine’s Day, Adelle M. Banks writes about the Bible’s Song of Solomon: When Denise and Roger Friesen planned a Valentine’s Day dinner for their Omaha, Neb., church, they immediately knew their theme: the Song of Solomon-sometimes called the Song of Songs-the sexiest book in the Bible. The book opens with the phrase “O, that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth! For your love is better than wine.” Later language compares male legs to alabaster columns and female breasts to clusters of fruit on a tree. Others are also quoting the eight-chapter book tucked between Ecclesiastes and Isaiah. Texas pastor Tommy Nelson has led conferences on the topic for almost a decade. A Florida company recently issued a CD featuring a spoken-word dialogue between the book’s sensual lovers. And Pope Benedict XVI mentioned it in a recent encyclical on erotic and spiritual love. But in other circles, the Bible’s love poems are hardly ever read, in part because they make believers blush.