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Francis · 01-12-2015, 04:23 PM

There is some common ground here. I hope that the French situation will give resurgence to the idea that we supposedly believe in the west - that government and religion are separate and that freedom of speech is a more important value than offending some fundamentalist person.

I did not agree with much of what Mr. Hitchens said, but before he died he criticized the west for tiptoeing around this question. He was right about that. Freedom of speech (and other freedoms) are more important than any principle of Islam or any other religion.

We cherish these freedoms, no less than any person cherishes their religion. Of course we all hope that Islamists - the current bad actors in this situation, develop enough maturity to quit this violence over cartoons and words. But if they don't, we may end up having to defend our cherished values in the exact ways we are hoping to avoid.

01-12-2015, 04:23 PM	#142
Francis Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 360	There is some common ground here. I hope that the French situation will give resurgence to the idea that we supposedly believe in the west - that government and religion are separate and that freedom of speech is a more important value than offending some fundamentalist person. I did not agree with much of what Mr. Hitchens said, but before he died he criticized the west for tiptoeing around this question. He was right about that. Freedom of speech (and other freedoms) are more important than any principle of Islam or any other religion. We cherish these freedoms, no less than any person cherishes their religion. Of course we all hope that Islamists - the current bad actors in this situation, develop enough maturity to quit this violence over cartoons and words. But if they don't, we may end up having to defend our cherished values in the exact ways we are hoping to avoid.