Charlie the Freethinker: Religion, Blasphemy, and Decent Controversy
This comment examines the tension between freedom of expression and freedom of religion by embedding the Charlie Hebdo cartoons in a wider, century-old European tradition of publications mocking religion, including Christianity. It describes, and draws lessons from, the 19th century blasphemy case a...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill, Nijhoff
2015
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| In: |
Religion and human rights
Year: 2015, Volume: 10, Issue: 3, Pages: 244-254 |
| Further subjects: | B
Charlie Hebdo
The Freethinker
Blasphemy (history of English law of)
Coleridge
freedom of expression
lawful attacks on religion
human rights law
freedom of expression
freedom of religion
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | This comment examines the tension between freedom of expression and freedom of religion by embedding the Charlie Hebdo cartoons in a wider, century-old European tradition of publications mocking religion, including Christianity. It describes, and draws lessons from, the 19th century blasphemy case against the British Freethinker newspaper, whose “technique of offense” was similar to that of Charlie Hebdo. Finally, the comment tackles the problem of violent response to text or images that mock religion, pointing out that malicious intermediaries often carry such messages between social groups or across national borders—greatly escalating the risk of violence. |
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| ISSN: | 1871-0328 |
| Contains: | In: Religion and human rights
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/18710328-12341291 |