Without getting into what Phallus has said (regarding the Danish cartoon controversy, where on some points we disagree), I'll respond to his last point.
"Alternatively, you can think for yourself and ask how any controversy could arise from what Stacmon has proposed."
This made clear to me the laughable situation that we're all in right now. Some are arguing about whether or not Muslims would take offense to the Masjid al-Haram being portrayed in this game.
In actual fact, it is already being portrayed in this game, and indignation would have come long ago. Since the building is named Masjid al-Haram and is clearly described as so in the Civilopedia, we basically have the Masjid al-Haram in Civilization IV. It is built in Mecca (in Rhye's and Fall of Civilization), is the Muslim holy shrine and is simply missing a proper graphic. If we saw a wonder called "the Space Elevator" which provided the benefit of increased space ship part construction, had a corresponding Civilopedia entry, but mistakenly sported the model of the Pyramids, we would know immediately that the model was used mistakenly.
The situation would have been completely different if the name was wrong while the Civilopedia had a description of the Dome of the Rock, which would have been completely consistent with the graphic.
So reformulated, Firaxis has already made a decision (long ago, during game development) to include the Masjid al-Haram in the game. They are taking no action not because a decision could be politically shaky (they've already taken that step) but instead because they don't think it's important enough or too much work. Islamic temples, mosques and monastaries have all been designed to be consistent with the texturing of the Dome of the Rock and a change may require them to redo all Islamic buildings. The simplest course of action (though not a solution) is to just avoid the topic entirely.
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