The Charlie Hebdo Murders: The Real Atrocity Is Religious Persecution, Not Free Expression

Doug Bandow

The slaughter at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo brought hundreds of thousands of marchers and scores of world leaders onto the streets of Paris.  The killings demonstrate how the destructive phenomenon of religious persecution is spreading from Third World dictatorships to First World democracies. 
Religious minorities long have faced murder and prison around the world.  Now the freedom not to believe by majorities in Western democracies is under attack.
As I write in Forbes online:  “Free expression goes to the very essence of the human person.  While good judgment tells us not to express every thought we have, as moral agents responsible for our actions we must be free to assess the world and express ourselves in vibrant public debate.  For religion there is no greater affront than to inhibit people’s search for the transcendent and liberty to respond, yay or nay, to God’s call.” 
Western governments must protect the liberties of their peoples.  Members of no group, Muslim or other, should be treated as enemies.  However, the problem of violent religious intolerance is almost uniquely Muslim. 
Christians finally learned to stop killing over spiritual differences.  Today in most countries in which Muslims constitute a majority religious minorities suffer discrimination and persecution. 
There is no disguising reality.  If you are a Baha’i, Jew, Ahmadi, Christian, Yazidi, Hindu, wrong k...

Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 12, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs