Moi Aussi!

 Moi aussi. Je ne suis pas Charlie.

The massacre of staff and policemen at the Charlie Hebdo office was horrendous, savage and evil in the extreme. It had the hallmarks of the fanatical barbarity that has marked the advance of the Islamic Front and Al-qaeda over recent years.

The counterpoint mass demonstrations were a powerful message of revulsion and unity in the face of recent events in Paris. Of much concern was the chilling realisation that innocent Jewish people are once again in the firing line for no reason other than their ethnicity and faith.

I would be happy to join any demonstration against the toxic fanaticism of those that kill in the name of defending faith. But, I could not join a demonstration in support of freedom of the press where that freedom is identified with the right to publish blasphemy against religion, which was the case with Charlie Hebdo, as Fr Ray Blake’s recent post ((http://marymagdalen.blogspot.co.uk) demonstrates. Christianity, as well as Islam, has been a target.

Freedom of the press should not be a license to permit faith-based sensibilities to be outraged with impunity. In a saner world, protests, boycotts, demonstrations and prayer would be appropriate responses. Of course there is the argument that those likely to be offended can simply avoid the offensive material, but ‘no man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.’ There is value, even a duty, in opposing blasphemy and standing with the offended.   

Sadly, we do not live in a balanced or rational world, and today’s news is that a new edition of Charlie Hebdo is being published, one that features cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad and thus has the potential to offend millions of faithful and responsible Moslems. Thus, outrage is countered with insult.

No, I’m not with the crowd on this one.