My name is Jacob Mchangama. I'm a human rights
lawyer. Being born and raised in safe and
liberal Copenhagen, I never thought that defending
free speech would ever become a central calling
of mine.
But the riots, attacks, and deaths, following
the publications of cartoons depicting the
prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper, deeply
disturbed me.
What was even worse was the meek response
by governments and intellectuals in democracies.
It's important to me that people are free
to live happy and free lives, and never be
afraid of being jailed, hurt, or killed for
something they may say or believe in.
And so what follows are my beliefs: that free
speech and freedom of religion are not contradictory,
but complementary. We need one to have the
other. We need both to live peacefully in
a society with cultural and religious diversity.
In the fall of 2012, riots broke out in many
Islamic countries, over a crude, anti-Islamic
film, The Innocence of Muslims. Protests led
to death and destruction, and global calls
for restrictions on free speech.
So have protests over perceived insulting
cartoons published in a Danish newspaper.
Perceived denigration of Islam has become
an explosive fault line where free speech
collides with deeply-held religious feelings.
And so the question becomes: are calls for
sensitivity for religious values jeopardizing
one of our most fundamental freedoms?
Should religious feelings take precedence
over free speech?
