Charles Taylor spoke to The Register the day after brothers Said and Ch茅rif Kouachi invaded the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo with AK47 assault rifles, killed 12 people and injured 11 others. One of the brothers is reported to have shouted 鈥淎llahu Akbar鈥� (God is Great) and at another point in French, 鈥淭he Prophet has been avenged.鈥�
鈥淚 would not say this in Paris today, but Charlie Hebdo helped contribute to a situation,鈥� said Taylor, the author of A Secular Age and dozens of books and articles on political theory, religion and multiculturalism. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not the cause of it, but they were part of the situation.鈥�
The kind of journalism practised at Charlie Hebdo contributes to a kind of society in which no respect is afforded to fellow citizens and minorities bear a burden of contempt heaped on them by media outlets which they cannot influence, said Taylor.
鈥淚f you are going to contribute to the sense of marginalization of these people, you鈥檙e going to contribute to a situation that could produce what happened,鈥� he said.
Taylor pointed to the 2005 Danish cartoons which made fun of the Prophet Mohammed, reproduced in Charlie Hebdo, as an example of how press freedom can be abused.
鈥淭he Danish case is absurd,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ne-hundred-thousand very much marginalized Muslims (in Denmark) felt terrible when they were given this kind of treatment. This is not to say there should be a law forbidding it. That gets us into all sorts of problems. I鈥檓 just saying that you鈥檙e justified in saying to people who published those Danish cartoons, 鈥楾hat was a bad move.鈥� 鈥�
The Vatican quickly condemned the Charlie Hebdo massacre as a 鈥渄ouble act of violence, abominable because it is both an attack against people as well as against freedom of the press.鈥�
A joint declaration signed by French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and four French imams, said, 鈥淲ithout freedom of speech, the world is in danger.鈥�
Freedom of the press should not be used to target minorities with contempt and ridicule, Taylor said.
鈥淵ou know it鱿鱼视频app headed for the wrecking yard if those are the conditions of your society,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he trouble with our political theory is that it is excessively normativistic. It doesn鈥檛 think of what are the actual, existential conditions in which these norms can be fulfilled and are reasonably secure.鈥�
Over the years Charlie Hebdo has attacked the Catholic Church and a long line of popes including Pope Francis. One cover showed Pope Benedict XVI in a sexual embrace with a Vatican Swiss Guard. But the paper鱿鱼视频app harshest satire was always saved for Islam. In 2012 it depicted Mohammed naked and in pornographic situations.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think the excuse that 鈥榃ell, we caricature the Pope and we caricature that鈥� really cuts it,鈥� said Taylor.