Satirical religious cartoons should be illegal, says Ottawa imam and reactions

From one of the preferred interlocutors of the Government in the Canadian Muslim community:

Imtiaz Ahmed, an imam with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, said it should be against the law to publish cartoons that depict religious figures in a derogatory way.

“Of course we defend freedom of speech, but it has to be balanced. There has to be a limit. There has to be a code of conduct,” Ahmed said.

“We believe that any kind of vulgar expression about any sacred person of any religion does not constitute the freedom of speech in any way at all.”

Ahmed said there should be limits placed on freedom of speech to prevent the publication of offensive material. He says that seems to be the case for events such as the Holocaust. Members of the public denounce those who say the Holocaust never happened.

“We don’t want the Jewish community to be hurt by these sentiments,” Ahmed says.

And yes, of course there are limits; the debate is more about what those limits should and should not be, and what is considered offensive and to whom. A blanket “ban” on religious satire is what he seems to be what he is suggesting.

Satirical religious cartoons should be illegal, says Ottawa imam | Ottawa Citizen.

And the reply by the Association of Canadian Editorial Cartoonists:

“I think it should be up to the cartoonist and their editor as to whether a cartoon has crossed the line and become too distasteful,” said Wes Tyrell, association president and the feature editorial cartoonist for Yahoo! Canada.

“A cartoonist should absolutely be prepared to criticize what they see as poor behaviour by any human on the planet, whether a politician or religious figure. I find the whole concept of ‘you can’t touch them’ as pretty sad.”

… Ahmed’s views on censorship were met Friday with a storm of protest on the Citizen’s website. “I’m Catholic and I saw the humour in Monty Python’s Life of Brian: I didn’t pick up a gun after that,” wrote public health inspector Bruce Kemball, who noted that Canada already has laws against hate speech.

Other religious leaders contacted by the Citizen also weighed in on the issue.

Rabbi Reuven Bulka said it’s too unwieldy to try to define what’s unacceptable as it relates to satire and religion.

“We abhor hateful speech, we abhor speech that’s demeaning of anyone,” he said. “But in the end, the only way you’re going to have an effective counter to this kind of garbage is by people not buying these papers or not subscribing to them. If there’s no market, it won’t happen.”

Cartoonists insist they should be able to satirize anyone