Pope Francis, in response to the recent Charlie Hebdo massacre, said today that freedom of expression was a fundamental human right. However he claimed that their was a limit to freedom of speech when it came to offending someone’s religious beliefs. He went on to say: “It’s normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others.”
The Vatican and four French imams have recently jointly denounced the attack but urged the media to respect religion.
Why should religion be shielded from satire, ridicule and criticism when politics and economics are not?
No, Franny, religion has been respected for too long. Religion is an idea. Any idea must be open to questioning. And satire is a form of questioning.
If an idea cannot withstand ridicule then that feels to me suspiciously like a bad idea. People have a right to differentiate between good and bad ideas. Freedom of speech, even if it is offensive, is a sure way to pressure test an idea.
Salman Rushdie recently said: “Respect for religion has become a code phrase meaning fear of religion. Religions, like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire and, yes, our fearless disrespect.”
Teenage Daydream 