Douthat versus the Pope...and Douthat is still right
So, Pope Francis was asked today about the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris. I found his response to be very disappointing; in essence, he said "well, violence and extremism are bad, but when you insult people's religions, what do you expect?" It is particularly disappointing insofar as it is basically a nicer version of the position taken by the vile Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, who will no doubt be emboldened by the Pope's comments. It's disappointing, and it is wrong. It's wrong because it fails to recognize something that Western democracies have learned, but that religious institutions by and large have not. The truth is you can only have two of the following three principles in your society: (a) people are able to live without constantly killing each other; and (b) people are able to express themselves, and (c) people protected from being offended by the things others say. One of those has to go, and the one that liberal Western democracie...