Watch the video of an amazing debate on the Charlie Hebdo cartoons, that ended with a shocking result. The debate was held on 12th February 2015, at the University of Manchester, hosted by the Manchester Debating Union, is now up online to watch.
The debate was shocking, not just due to the highly impassioned arguments on both sides, but on the dramatic voting changes from before and after the debate – where the mostly (90% +/-) non-Muslim audience took a dramatic swing from one position to another by the end of the debate!
The topic of the debate was whether the house regretted the republishing of the Charlie Hebdo front cover in the media, after the paris attacks. Watch the video to experience the arguments, the humour, the rhetoric, and the final decision by the audience regarding what was a highly charged topic.
To read Abdullah al Andalusi’s review of the debate (contains spoilers), click here.
Categories: 'Freedom of Speech', Debates, Featured, Islamophobia, Subject, Videos
The Muslim Debate Initiative 
Jesus insulted the Jews on a number of occasions and they tried to kill him. I am sure they blasphemed but he was lenient towards them.
Neither a cartoon nor a verbal insult is a criminal offence under the law of Moses. Unless it directly addressed to God which would be blasphemy.
An image of a man can’t be blasphemous because that would be putting a man and God on the same level wouldn’t it? Islam definitely seems to err in that direction from a Christian point of view. It seems to have difficulty not making something more than a man out of Mohammed. I can understand that the secular mind would have trouble understanding why a cartoonist should be killed for offending a dead man’s reputation. I also have trouble with it myself because none of the prophets of the OT were given this elevated status which Islam gives to Mohammed.
A non-blasphemous cartoon may be a sin or not. All depends on where we get our knowledge of God’s will. It is still not a criminal offence. There are no laws in the bible which protect a dead man’s ego.
Charlie Hebdo created cartoons which are very offensive to Christianity as well.
To kill someone for this reason is still murder.
In a multicultural society should opposing worldviews have the right to poke fun at each other in this way? It is inevitable that all worldviews are mutually derogatory. Apes and pigs is no compliment either. I am sure there is an abundance of cartoons going around in the Arab world depicting Jews in an offensive manner. Where does that come from I wonder?