Freedom of making a fool of oneself

Well, well.

In an article I read this morning, it struck me as strange that Pope Francis put limits on a "fundamental right."

Yes, the Pope who has spread joy and peace among all peoples, said, "You cannot provoke, you cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others."

He was responding to last week's Charlie Hebdo attacks, the violence of which he condemned, while at the same time condoning physical violence as a response to offense.

"If he says a swear word against my mother, he's going to get a punch in the nose," Francis said. "But that's normal. That's normal."

Well, uh, not to Jesus, of course.

That whole loving thy enemy thing seems to fly in the face of this.

The question becomes, what would you do if it were you? And the answer is not always easily explained.

Francis finished by saying, "in freedom of expression there are limits."

That's always been the question for me. I believe in freedom of expression. I don't believe in limits to it, or otherwise it makes no sense. Still, someone making fun of Jesus rankles me. I once lost my temper because of it, years ago. Did that make my response correct? No, I don't think it did.

If you believe in freedom of speech as a right, then you must be all in, as much as that pains me to write. You must be able to provoke, insult, and especially make fun of.

In the end, I think Jesus is probably up to the challenge in ways I could never be. I suspect we all are free to make a fool of ourselves, but we are not free to blow things up. Seems reasonable.