Confession: I would make a lousy extremist, because I’m too good at considering other people’s points of view. As I read each online article and post reacting to the massacre of cartoonists and others at the Charlie Hebdo headquarters, I think, “That’s a good point,” and then I think it about the next point too. It’s a complex issue, and I’m a complicated thinker, but I think that now I have distilled my thoughts into a few points I want to make.
First, a point about which almost everybody agrees is that shooting and killing people is not an acceptable response to being offended by what they say, write, or draw, even if what they express is offensive to many people.
Second, another generally accepted point is that freedom of speech and of the press is a fundamental principle of Western civilization. It makes democratic nations possible. Censorship is not the answer to provocative speech. Even if I find your expressions repugnant, I defend your right to express them, because that is the only way in which we all enjoy the freedom to express ourselves.
Then we arrive at an idea upon which more people disagree, the opinion that religion in general or Islam in particular is the problem, that which leads people to acts of violence, and if we eliminated religion, the world would be a more peaceful place. I’m one of those people who disagrees with this. Throughout history, many acts of violence–wars, crusades, massacres, persecution, torture–have been committed in the name of religion, but I don’t think religion per se is really the cause. Fanaticism, fundamentalism, desires for power, prestige, money, or revenge, for example, are human impulses that can lead to violent acts but exist outside of religion as well as in it.
Finally, a point has been made by some commentators on this issue that has been given scant attention until recently, but may be given more now. Renowned Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan, interviewed on Democracy Now! on Thursday, January 8, 2015, noted that Western society is not a level playing field when it comes to the media targeting of religious groups. He stated that there are double standards in Western nations such as France regarding the ridiculing of Muslims versus Jews and Christians, for example.
Rabbi Michael Lerner wrote something similar in Tikkun Magazine when he pointed out that no media outlets complained about Western civilization being destroyed or freedom of the press being threatened when right-wing fanatics sent him death threats for his articles criticizing Israeli policies.
And now, as the majority of French Muslims join with other citizens in condemning the killing of the Charlie Hebdo staff and others, they are fearing an anti-Muslim backlash in their country. None of us condone either murder or censorship, but there are other issues here which must be addressed.
For links to the articles and reports I cited, see the following:
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/1/8/scholar_tariq_ramadan_harpers_rick_macarthur#
http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/mourning-the-parisian-journalists-yet-challenging-the-hypocrisy
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/1/9/french_muslims_fear_backlash_increased_islamophobia
