In the wake of the murders of the Charlie Hebdo team, it is imperative
that there is a united front in condemning murder and violence as a
response to satire, no matter how crude, vulgar and provocative the
satire may be.

Charlie Hebdo is equally scathing about all the major world religions.

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There is merit in this. Appeasement of the most violent elements of any
grouping inevitably leads to disaster. But writer Will Self, who was
once a satirical cartoonist, has another take.

“. . . the test I apply to something to see whether it truly is satire
derives from HL Mencken’s definition of good journalism: It should
‘afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted’. The trouble with a
lot of so-called ‘satire’ directed against religiously motivated
extremists is that it’s not clear who it’s afflicting, or who it’s
comforting.”

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Pope Francis has joined in the condemnation of the murders. He himself
had featured on the cover of the satirical magazine, in a phone call to
God. The image is a riff on a video that went viral in France, of a
participant in a reality TV show who was stunned that another