The mass murders in France over the last few days are the result of what happens when people place their religious morality over actual morality that is based on human values. Radical Muslims were upset that someone insulted their prophet, so they killed 17 people. And to make a tragedy worse, there are some who essentially blame the victim and say that the French magazine shouldn’t have printed controversial things about Mohammed.

They’re missing the point, which is that it is WRONG to use violence when someone says something you don’t like, no matter how offended you might be and even if the target is your sacred religious belief. The human values of freedom of speech and expression transcend religious versions of morality. The Western World has learned this (the hard way, after centuries of agony); the Islamic world needs to do the same.

Dan Turner
DOC #767569