In the last week we have seen a clear triumph for fundamentalists at both sides. Religious fundamentalists are leading a huge public campaign in the Muslim world, which the governments had to cave in and watch, while ultra right wing fundamentalists in Europe are putting oil on fire by re-printing the notorious cartoons of the prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in several European newspapers using the principles of "freedom of expression" as a metaphor.

In this climate of fear and hatred how can Arab seculars contribute to the bridging of the cultural gap between Europe and the Muslim World? Should they advocate "freedom of expressions" or unite with their religious citizens in defending the image of Islam? Or should they cave in and be helpless leaving the struggle to be managed, or mis-managed by the two fundamentalist camps.

To begin with, we must admit that Arab seculars are more like a "species threatened with extinction" more than an active keystone component of the Arab culture. Arab seculars are few and mainly confined to "cultural elites" and rarely do express their opinions to the public.

There are two types of Arab seculars. The first one, that can be labeled "national seculars" believe in the separation of state and religion, but yet they respect the cultural and religious symbols of the Muslim world and cannot support or justify the Danish cartoons that have produced a direct and unjustified insult to the Muslims at large.  For this group of Arab seculars, secularism is defined as a conceptual framework and state of mind that respects the cultural diversity and local religious and cultural values, albeit separating religion from governance systems.

The second type of Arab seculars is the anti-religious group that has encapsulated itself in its own niche of refusing religion and acting in a hostile manner towards the public values of the Muslim society, seeking refuge with western liberal and secular movements but being almost cut-off any impacts on the Muslim societies.

The active Arab seculars have not managed to justify the nature and amount of the insult done by the Danish cartoons and their cloning in other European newspapers.  To the national Arab seculars, composed mainly of nationalist, leftist and liberal democrats the secularism of Europe is turning to be a "secular fundamentalism" or "secular dogma" that insults the traditional values of the Arab and Muslim world.

Freedom should be expressed with the highest level of responsibility since it is a very precious value. Secularism is a system of thoughts that tolerates differences and respects local values of all cultures. For the Arab seculars it was impossible for them to be passive or indifferent towards the insult subjected on their cultural values, and the European secular system should be able to discover back the ethical values of secularism that provides a safe haven not only for "irresponsible" freedom of expression but also a safe haven for cultural diversity.