Over at the China Post, Father Daniel Bauer splits a few hairs while arguing that criticism of religion is fine, but criticism of religious figures should be off-limits:
But I am an educated westerner and, alas, a literary fellow. And these works ["Canterbury Tales", "The Decameron" and "Candide"] do not make a fool of Jesus Christ personally.
Nothing condones the violence in Paris on Jan. 11. The reasons for it lie at least partially in a catastrophic conflict of cultures. The only good that may come from all this is deeper reflection and understanding which results in greater empathy for victims of insensitivity or cruelty everywhere, and not simply in France. [emphasis added]
If the good father is suggesting that the French need to cater more to Muslim sensitivities, then he'll be delighted to know that that's been going on for quite some time: French authorities are prevented from entering large numbers of Muslim-dominated no-go zones for fear of mob attacks, and French Jews are unable to wear clothing reflecting their religious devotion for fear of being assaulted or murdered by members of the Religion Of Peace™.
Woe be to any Jew lacking the requisite "empathy" with Islamic anti-Semitism!
However, since it's a lazy Sunday evening and I'm feeling charitable, I shall give Father Bauer the benefit of the doubt and assume he does not wish to abolish free speech in the Western World. (A policy which, if enacted, would consign it to an epoch of ignorance and cruelty similar to the 800-year-long Dark Age that Islam currently languishes in the depths of).
Rather, I shall assume that what Father Bauer meant to say was that Muslim immigrants in the West should endeavor to be sensitive to the Western values of their new homeland, and not attempt to transform the West into an Islamofascist shithole resembling the one they emigrated from.
(Well, as a Catholic priest, he might not phrase it exactly that way…)
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