In the wake of the terrible events in Paris, the murders of people at work in a free liberal democracy, my response.

Many  religious folk may be feeling sympathy for the view that these Charlie Hebdo cartoons are disrespectful and scurrilous.  They are meant to be so, to make people think. There is the danger . Religious doctrine and dogma must never be questioned or challenged. People must not think for themselves, because there  lies the draining away of power in the church, mosque or temple.

In a liberal democracy, where everyone has the freedom to follow a religion or have no religion to follow, that freedom has to be reciprocal. We, of the liberal democracy, have had this satirical tradition of lampooning those in authority to keep them in line , to burst the bubble of their self importance or to illustrate injustice or hypocrisy.  It stretches back in time to  Burns, Hogarth, Swift , Voltaire to name a few.  Even Dickens could be said to use satire to point up the dreadful conditions in schools and the plight of the poor compared to the bloated aristocracy, including the rich prelates of the church.

People come to this country because they feel they will be free to worship, or indeed not worship,  in their own ways. But for one of these religions to then proscribe the freedom of our press is simply a non sequitur. The establishment of thriving mosques, temples and churches of all types does not imply that these religious institutions can then dictate to us, our press, what it may or may not publish.

No one forces people to look at these cartoons. Look away, ignore them. Live and let live. Be at peace with everyone.  We are living  in a liberal democracy, developed over many centuries. These extremist ideologies strike at the very basis of our  democracy: the freedom to think and speak our minds.