"We don't attack religion" - Charlie Hebdo's editor replies pontiff

oge okonkwo

January 19, 2015 5:36 PM

Gerard Biard disagreed with Pope Francis saying it is not just about cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, but defending free speech and freedom of religion

Charlie Hebdo's editor-in-chief, Gerard Biard, has replied Pope Francis' criticism of the satirical magazine's controversial cartoons.

“We do not attack religion, but we do when it gets involved in politics,” Gerard Biard said on “Meet the Press,” in his first American TV interview since terrorists killed 12 people at the publication’s Paris office on Jan. 7. “If God becomes entangled in politics, then democracy is in danger.”

The pope condemned the cartoons last week, saying, “One cannot provoke, one cannot insult other people’s faith, one cannot make fun of faith.”

But Biard disagreed, saying it is not just about cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, but defending free speech and freedom of religion.

Biard went on to Islam publications that refused to publish Charlie Hebdo’s latest cartoon, which features a weeping Mohammed holding a “Je Suis Charlie” sign.

“When they refuse to publish this cartoon, when they blur it out, when they decline to publish it, they blur out democracy, secularism, freedom of religion and they insult the citizenship,” Biard said.

The Post ran the cartoon on its front page last week.

oge okonkwo