The Cost of Freedom

by Fr. Gregory

We have freedom of speech in this country but we also have responsibilities to each other.  I am glad that the media decided not to reprint the cartoons of Mohammed simply because the motivation was wrong.  It seems that the Danish newspaper simply wanted to make a point about Islamic intolerance of offence against the prophet ... but this we knew anyway so I can only conclude that the motives were either base (unspecified) or if not, naively concerned with undermining justifiable self censorship in the media on an ideological point.  Why do I consider this self censorship to be justifiable?  Because in this case it serves a higher good; a point I shall now attempt to explain.

We have a clash of civilisations and cultures between Islam and the west; that is for sure.  Christians and skeptics alike have for a very long time grown accustomed to extreme satire against religion.  Christians may not welcome this attention sometimes but we have learned to value the freedom this represents.  We have often used the arguments that God's reputation needs no defence and that our faith is not dented by such attacks but rather sharpened by our ability to respond with hopefully, helpful words.

Islam has a different approach.  It sees disrespect towards Mohammed and Islam as undermining cultural capital, justice and peaceable relations in society precisely because these are founded upon faith in God and attention to the prophet.  If the latter are undermined, then so are the former.  Now this may well be true and it is not inconsistent with a traditional Christian approach to the relationship between religion and society.  Theocracies, however, of the mild or rigorous form, do not now exist in the west and we have developed a secular culture, for good or ill in their place.