http://sffoghorn.org/2015/02/04/je-ne-suis-pas-charlie/ Sun, 06 Dec 2015 16:58:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://sffoghorn.org/2015/02/04/je-ne-suis-pas-charlie/comment-page-1/#comment-12081 Thu, 12 Feb 2015 06:32:17 +0000 http://sffoghorn.org/?p=11952#comment-12081 People were killed over cartoons. End of moral analysis. That you could go on to analyze the publication’s cartoons themselves in the aftermath of this tragedy as being somehow relevant to the deaths of flesh and blood human beings, only shows your lack of moral credibility. The freedom of speech, and of expression more broadly, in no way infringes on someone’s ability to practice their religion. However, in this case, and in countless others like it, religion, and one in particular at this historical moment -radical Islam -claims the right to kill at the sight of an “offensive” image. If the freedom of speech does not include the right to offend, who is to decide what counts as offensive speech or expression? The government? A religious authority? The people? Do you see where this lands you, a world in which a person’s right to expression must constantly be curtailed if it offends, that is to say, challenges anyone’s belief in any way. Regarding France’s law banning religious symbols in its public school system; it can be defended on the grounds that secularly run schools should focus on just that, a secular environment. Though, I’m against that law too, I can’t help but feel that the indignation over it reveals a lack of faith in one’s religion of choice. Did Jesus, Moses, or Mohammed ever emphasis the importance of wearing their respective faith’s jerseys, i.e. symbols? No, they emphasized the spiritual, which if it does exist in a person, should not be harmed at all by the taking away of some symbol.

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