Following last week’s deadly terror attack in Paris and the release of the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine depicting a tearful Prophet Mohammed, there has been an increasing debate over freedom of expression and people from all walks of life have been weighing in on this conversation which has generated world-wide interests. Click HERE if you missed our report!
This newly generated debate on freedom of speech may have prompted Pope Francis, who is currently visiting the Philippines, to make some related comments on religion extremism as it relates to freedom of speech by saying that killing “in the name of God” is wrong, but it is also wrong to “provoke” people by belittling their religion.
According to CNN, the Pope also stressed that there was no justification for the 17 deaths that resulted from the three separate incidents in Paris, including the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices, but the assailants were reportedly Islamist extremists, and even called out “Allahu akbar,” which translates in Arabic to “God is great,” as they carried out the terror attack in Paris.
“One cannot make war (or) kill in the name of one’s own religion,” Francis said while not making a specific reference to the Charlie Hebdo attack. “To kill in the name of God is an aberration,”….. “One cannot provoke, one cannot insult other people’s faith, one cannot make fun of faith.”
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