Should a soap make anti-christian coments?
My principle would be that the right of free speech should always trump the right not to be offended. Religions should have no special status. It is important that religions should have the freedom to proclaim their faith but the price they pay for that is that they should respect the right of the non-religious to proclaim our scepticism. There is a context however in which this is happening. Firstly we all know that broadcasters and publishers are very wary of offending Muslims and some Christians are understandably bitter that Muslims seem to be getting special treatment. Whenever a negative comment is made about Christianity, some Christians are asking if the broadcaster would make a similar comment about Muslims. I can understand why Christians are upset about this apparent double-standard. Secondly, there have been several high-profile cases (such as the Ross/Brand affair) where people have forced apologies, suspensions and sackings because they have been “offended”. In our politi
