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Religious holiness and freedom of expressoin

Posted January. 17, 2015 07:12,   

한국어

The Jews at the time of Jesus Christ demanded his execution because of blasphemy. According to the Bible, an angry crowd led Jesus to the high priest, who asked him. “Are you the Son of God?” And Jesus said, “I am; and you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Then, the high priest tore his mantle and said that Jesus committed blasphemy.

Mohammed cartoons by Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly magazine, were considered blasphemy in the Islamic world. “You cannot make fun of the faith of others,” Pope Francis said, adding that freedom of expression had its limits.

We are well aware of the history of religious wars. However, Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons did not ridicule other religions as a religion. They were a secular media outlet’s satire of religion. The magazine also satirizes the Catholic Church. It seems that as a religious man, the pontiff better understands the feelings of other religious people than anyone else.

One of the characteristics of modern culture is that it did shift from one holy belief to the other but does not accept any holiness. This is where the freedom as we know it burgeoned. Freedom of religion gave birth to freedom of ideology and freedom of expression. Modern media is based on the spirit that even Jesus and Mohammed can be lampooned. Forming solidarity with people fighting against those who refuses to accept it is the spirit of “Je suis Charlie (I am Charlie).”

The freedom of expression does have its limits. No society would allow remarks instigating the killing of someone. It is also limited by each country’s historical experiences. In Western Europe, those who deny the Holocaust would be punished. South Korea does not allow anyone to praise the oppressive North Korean system. However, we think that religious holiness is different. Modern culture is blasphemous. The moment we have absolute religious holiness that we are not allowed to criticize, we would fall into the danger of going back to the pre-modern world.