Today was “Everybody Draw Mohammad Day,” an online protest manufactured by a bunch of juveniles who fancy themselves defenders of the sacred American principle of free speech.

Does the First Amendment give them the right to engage in such offensive behavior? Absolutely. Do I, a journalist whose livelihood depends upon that constitutional guarantee and a Christian whose religious freedom is protected by it, defend their right to be willfully obnoxious? Yes, reluctantly.

But what I won’t do is praise anyone who thinks it noble to viciously demean another man’s beliefs.

That’s especially true of people who profess to follow Christ. “Everybody Draw Mohammad Day” violates a core tenant of Christ’s teachings: “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt. 7:12)

Notice that Jesus didn’t say “treat people the same way they have treated you” — or, in this case, your religion. So the fact that blaspheming all things Christian is considered high art in America these days is no justification for a supposedly artistic counterattack against Mohammad.

Drawing Mohammad in order to stick a collective finger in the eyes of his disciples doesn’t make him look bad, but self-proclaimed Christians who participated in the event certainly made Jesus look bad by disobeying His “Golden Rule.”