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Cartoon Clash: Is it Moral to Ridicule Religious Belief?
Glen Rocess wrote that it’s morally wrong to publish cartoons of Mohammed: https://glennrocess.medium.com/it-is-morally-wrong-to-post-cartoons-of-the-islamic-prophet-mohammed-dc757e51b752.
In reply I wrote that Charlie Hebdo and Samuel Paty, the beheaded French schoolteacher, were right and that censorship is legally and morally wrong: https://medium.com/common-sense-now/why-charlie-hebdo-and-samuel-paty-are-right-and-censorship-is-wrong-e6f5cdafaaef .
Glen wrote back to me:
“If you’ll refer back to my article, I didn’t say that it’s *legally* wrong, but *morally* wrong. Note the difference. I am not calling for legal censorship, but the same kind of social understanding and consideration that is given to Judaism. Just as there is a social stigma against ridiculing Jews for being Jews, and against ridiculing their religious beliefs and practices, there should also be a social stigma against ridiculing anyone — Including Muslims — for their religious beliefs and (within reason) their practices. If you cannot accept this basic tenet of equality, then I recommend you go spend a lot more time among Muslims, that you may learn that they are just as human, with the same range intellect and of good and bad moral behavior, as the rest of us.”
