By Michael Snyder | End of the American Dream
Should criticism of Islam be banned? Should the kinds of cartoons depicting Muhammed that were published by French magazine Charlie Hebdo be against the law? In recent days, there has been a massive outpouring of support for free speech in the western world in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre. But there have also been a few dissenting voices. One of these dissenting voices belongs to Pope Francis. He has publicly stated that “there is a limit” to free speech and that “you cannot insult the faith of others”. So obviously he does not approve of the cartoons of Muhammed that Charlie Hebdo has been publishing. By taking this kind of public stand, the Pope is going to further endear himself to the more than one billion Muslims in the world. Since he was elevated to Pope, he has been doing more than any of his predecessors to build bridges to Islam. So precisely why is he doing this? Why is he working so hard to bring Muslims and Catholics together? Could it be possible that he is laying the groundwork for a future one world religion?
To make his point that there are “limits” on free speech, the Pope referred to one of his close assistants during a conversation with reporters…
He referred to Alberto Gasparri, who organizes papal trips and was standing by his side aboard the papal plane.
“If my good friend Dr Gasparri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch,” Francis said, throwing a pretend punch his way. “It’s normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others.”
So if we insult Muhammed, should we expect physical retaliation from Muslims?
According to Francis, this would make sense…
Recently the Vatican and four prominent French imams issued a joint declaration that, while denouncing the Paris attacks, urged the media to treat religions with respect.
Francis, who has called on Muslim leaders in particular to speak out against Islamic extremism, went a step further Thursday when asked by a French journalist about whether there were limits when freedom of expression meets freedom of religion.
“There are so many people who speak badly about religions or other religions, who make fun of them, who make a game out of the religions of others,” he said. “They are provocateurs. And what happens to them is what would happen to Dr. Gasparri if he says a curse word against my mother. There is a limit.”
Yes, Pope Francis has denounced the violence that just happened in France.
But he is also being very, very careful not to offend Muslims. He is siding with Muslim leaders that find the caricatures published by Charlie Hebdo to be extremely offensive. By doing so, he is winning a lot of friends in the Muslim world.
And without a doubt, this is the most politically-correct Pope that Rome has ever had. He seems to always know exactly what to say to the press, and he has been working extremely hard to reach out to other major global religious leaders since the beginning of his papacy.
But instead of working so hard to build bridges to other religions, perhaps he should be focusing on other things. For example, there are some horrific human rights abuses going on in the Philippines right now. Instead of complaining about cartoons of Muhammed, this is what he should have been complaining about…
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Source Article from https://www.intellihub.com/limits-free-speech-popes-latest-effort-bring-muslims-catholics-closer-together/
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