I actually think you, /u/herpderpdrone and /u/HaveJoystick are offering a very misguided take on what's going on.

Take a look at this hilarious short scene from the Cohen Brother's film Hail Ceasar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJEiDRi4Itc

It depicts hollywood dealing with religion in the 1950s (the era of major biblical films such as the robe and the 10 commandments) with the aim to ensure that "it will not offend any reasonable American of any faith or creed." Of course, getting a nice simple hollywood theology agreed to quickly gets bogged down into messy doctrinal disputes.

That sort of attempt wasn't kowtowing to suicide bombers but instead represents the complexity of dealing with legitimately sets of opinions and beliefs.

The "Muhammad portrait" move strikes me as akin to old hollywood's approach to Christianity. Avoiding reasonable offense is different than cowering in fear. Is that move perfect? No, as I think the multilayered clip illustrates.

tl;dr you can fully and richly describe this move without the existence of terrorists.