Like the rest of the world, the members of ISHS watched the events that have unfolded in France over the past week—watched, with dismay, as death and terror erupted in the heart of Paris, and watched, with hopefulness, as the French people marched in defiance of those who sought to frighten them into submission to an extremist agenda.
It is not part of ISHS’s mission to support religion, nor to undermine it, but to contribute to the scholarly understanding of heresy, blasphemy, and unbelief, from the perspectives of both believers and unbelievers. This mission can only be carried out in a society that is open to the expression of any and all ideas, including ideas that may be offensive or hurtful to many people. Indeed, heresy, sacrilege, and blasphemy are inescapable parts of a free and tolerant society. A handful of individuals sought to destroy such a society this week in Paris. Parisians, the French people, and thousands more all around the globe marched to show that they support such a society.
In our next newsletter, ISHS will respond more fully to these events, which are admittedly complex and deserving of nuanced discussion. But for now, the officers of ISHS wish to say on behalf of our organization, “Je Suis Charlie.”
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