The killings, and the global context of which they are a part, provide an opportunity to reflect critically on the uses of, and justifications for, free speech.
After the horrific shooting at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper offices in Paris and following attacks in Paris stores, newspapers around the world had to make a pivotal decision.
As soon as I heard about the attack on Charlie Hebdo, I thought of these words about freedom of speech and self-expression in the face of oppression penned by author Tahar Djaout.
Most Americans who know about the deadly attack on the Paris headquarters of the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine say it’s OK that the weekly featured cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
It’s not news that free speech can offend.
But in the wake of the recent killings by Islamist extremists at a satirical magazine in Paris, editors around the world have had to make a choice
in the pain and the disorientation of this time, I’d like to wonder with you about six Gospel principles – six principles about Jesus and, therefore, six principles about being Jesus’ disciples – that might help us to respond both to Charlie Hebdo and to the terrorists who murdered it staff.