I am Charlie

France is in shock, and so is Red Baron. Yesterday morning three terrorists shouting Allahu Akbar stormed the Paris editorial office of the fortnightly published satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. They opened fire using submachine guns, killing twelve people, including the editor-in-chief and some well-known cartoonist. Two terrorists are still on the run. Meanwhile, the youngest - 18 years old! - turned himself over to the police.

Charlie Hebdo of January 7 (©Charlie Hebdo)

Charlie Hebdo is critical of politicians, actors, and the Catholic church. So far, the latter has lost all court cases on denigration against the magazine. The latest edition pictures Michel Houellebecq who had just published his new novel Soumission. The words on Charlie Hebdo's title page refer to Houellebecq's prediction that in 2022 a Muslim will become France's president with the consequence that the author will "submit" to Ramadan, the Islamic fasting month. That should be no difficulty, for in 2015, Houellebecq will lose all his teeth, i.e., his "bite."

In the past, Charlie Hebdo had published cartoons about Mohamed that had caused some turmoil in the Arabic world. This, however, does not justify any killing of people. Intolerance in the name of religion that does not shrink back from murder makes Red Baron furious. I am tempted to advocate the law of retaliation from the Old Testament (Lev. 24,19-20): An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but ...

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Moses and Mohamed agree with Jesus when he says: And yet we three delivered the same message of peace and love to them.

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