Charlie Hebdo: We Shall Continue until Islam Becomes as Ordinary as Catholicism.

In the light of the terrible deaths today (BBC), which could be foreseen, what is the justification behind Charlie Hebdo’s publication of the caricatures of Mohammed? Are they making a wider point than that – highly dubious – one made by the producers of the Innocence of Muslims?

Le Monde  today asked Charlie Hebdo’s editorial team:

Faut-il continuer à se moquer de la religion musulmane?

Should one continue to poke fun at the Muslim religion?

Pour l’hebdomadaire satirique, la réponse est oui, sans hésitation. “Il faut continuer jusqu’à ce que l’islam soit aussi banalisé que le catholicisme”, assène Charb avec l’assurance d’un prédicateur. “Nous avons brisé les deux tabous que sont Eros et Thanatos, mais il reste celui des religions“, affirme le dessinateur Luz. “Si on dit aux religions: “Vous êtes intouchables”, on est foutus”, renchérit Gérard Biard, rédacteur en chef.

For the satirical weekly, the answer is, without hesitation, yes “We must continue until Islam is made as trivial and commonplace as Catholicism” said Charb, stridently, with all the self-confidence of a preacher. The illustrator Luz asserted that, “We’ve broken two taboos, Eros and Thantos, the taboo of religion remains.”  Gérard Biard, Copy Chief, went further, “If we say about religions, ‘Nobody can touch you’, we’re completely fucked.”

S’il est un sujet qui cimente la rédaction, c’est bien celui de l’anticléricalisme. “L’attaque contre toutes les religions, c’est ce qui constitue notre identité, constate Gérard Biard. La rédaction comprend des anarchistes, des écolos, des communistes, des trotskystes, des socialos. Mais on est tous d’accord sur le fait religieux. Et je pense que nous sommes tous athées.”

If there is one subject that binds together the editorial team, it’s anti-clericalism. “Our identity is built around attacking religion, all religions” notes Gérard Biard, “The team is made up of anarchists, ecologists, communists, Trotskyists and Socialists. But we’re still all in agreement about religion as it exists. And I think we’re all atheists.”

Le Monde Friday.