Charlie Hebdo
Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, in hiding, fears militants are winning
By Reuters — March 11, 2015
MALMO, Sweden (RNS) Lars Vilks has spent the last few weeks moving from one safe house to another, and has been told he cannot go back to his home for the foreseeable future.
Rising anti-Semitism challenges Sweden’s proud and tolerant self-image
By Petra Socolovsky — March 4, 2015
(RNS) Even before recent attacks in Paris and Copenhagen, Swedish Jews were already more afraid of wearing Jewish symbols in public than Jews in Belgium, Germany, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia and the United Kingdom.
Copenhagen reels after deadly shootings surrounding free speech event
By Robin Herr — February 16, 2015
COPENHAGEN (RNS) "It feels surrealistic that this happened in Denmark, just around the corner from where I live," said Uffe Alici Pedersen of Copenhagen, who is Muslim.
Freedom of the press trumps respect for religion in a new survey
By Cathy Lynn Grossman — January 29, 2015
WASHINGTON (RNS) Most Americans who know about the Charlie Hebdo killings still say it was OK to publish cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad.
In France, comedian’s trial suggests mocking religion has its limits
By Elizabeth Bryant — January 29, 2015
PARIS (RNS) Dieudonne faces a charge of inciting terrorism for posting on Facebook that he felt like "Charlie Coulibaly" -- a reference to the gunman who killed four Jews at a kosher supermarket in Paris, just two days after the Charlie Hebdo attack.
Churches in Niger and other former French colonies torched over Charlie Hebdo cartoons
By Fredrick Nzwili — January 20, 2015
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) Sheikh Saliou Mbacke, coordinator of the Interfaith Action for Peace in Africa, said cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were an act of provocation that could not be justified by freedom of expression.
Pope Francis on free speech: ‘You cannot insult the faith of others’
By Josephine McKenna — January 15, 2015
(RNS) Pope Francis said there were limits to self-expression when it involved insulting or ridiculing people’s faith.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan denounces Paris attacks, says satirists not to blame
By David Gibson — January 13, 2015
NEW YORK (RNS) The archbishop of New York seemed to part ways with another prominent New York Catholic, Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, who essentially said Charlie Hebdo editors had brought on their own slaughter.
German Muslims rally for tolerance amid rising anti-Muslim protests
By Mihret Yohannes — January 13, 2015
BERLIN (RNS) The Central Council of Muslims in Germany and other Muslim groups organized the rally with the slogan “Let’s be there for each other. Terror: not in our name!”
Je suis Juif? Not so much (COMMENTARY)
By Jeffrey Salkin — January 13, 2015
(RNS) Many of those in the Paris marches would rather be a “Charlie” than a “Juif.”
Four Jewish victims of Paris market attack buried in Jerusalem
By Michele Chabin — January 13, 2015
(RNS) The families of the four men, who were not Israeli citizens, asked that they be buried in Israel rather than France.
France ponders its response to shootings: Will xenophobia or multiculturalism win?
By Elizabeth Bryant — January 12, 2015
PARIS (RNS) French leaders are echoing the message of inclusiveness. "France is not Houellebecq. It's not intolerance and fear," Prime Minister Manuel Valls said last week, referring to the controversial novelist Michel Houellebecq.
Vatican downplays report that it’s under threat from Islamic terrorists
By Josephine McKenna — January 12, 2015
VATICAN CITY (RNS) “The Vatican and the pope may be targets ... but it is not opportune to feed a state of particular alarm, because at the moment it is neither justified or well-founded," the Vatican's chief spokesman said.
You don’t have to support Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons to support free expression
By Chris Stedman — January 8, 2015
Anyone implying that you cannot truly support free expression unless you enthusiastically support Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons sets up a false dichotomy. Taking issue with these cartoons doesn’t make you an apologist for extremism—and suggesting otherwise isn’t just wrong, it’s harmful.
Why the Charlie Hebdo attack is not about images or free speech (COMMENTARY)
By Hussein Rashid — January 8, 2015
(RNS) to view the assault as simply about images of Muhammad is to accept a long-standing narrative about Muslim sensitivity to portrayals of Muhammad, which plays into conceptions of Muslims as superstitious savages.