Samuel Paty told his pupils to look away if they might be offended. He knew that caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad are deemed blasphemous by Muslims. But since the images in question were published by Charlie Hebdao, a French satirical magazine whose staff were massacred by jihadists in 2015, they were also relevant to a class about free speech. The teacher thought his pupils old enough to decide for themselves. For this, he was beheaded.
法國人的薩繆爾帕蒂在上課的過程中給學生們展示了伊斯蘭教的先知穆罕默德的肖像畫。雖然他在課上也有對那些可能會被冒犯到的伊斯蘭教信徒們提醒可以選擇不看。但是媒體的添油加醋，使得事件一發不可收拾，法國的諷刺雜誌《Charlir Hebdo》刊登了課堂上發生的這一幕。其實，這本雜誌的員工之前就有因言論不當而被暗殺的事例。這位教師只是簡單地認為自己的學生已經足夠成熟到可以擁有自己的判斷力。因此，他失去了生命。
In the age of social media, outrage can swiftly go global. The parent who denounced Mr Paty was not in the classroom, and lied when he said his daughter had been. The jihadist who killed the teacher did so after watching a Facebook video posted by that parent. And when Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, decried the murder and defended free speech, the leaders of several Muslim countries accused him of Islamophobia. Among them were Turkey’s president, who locks up thousands of Muslims for belonging to the wrong religious group, and Pakistan’s prime minister, who seems more upset by events in a classroom in France than in next-door China’s million-Muslim gulag.
在社交媒體的年代，連憤怒都可以傳染到全球。譴責帕蒂老師的家長甚至都不在教室目睹情況全過程，並且還撒謊宣稱自己的女兒也是在教室的學生之一。在看完該家長上傳的臉書視頻後，聖戰主義者拿起屠刀。法國總統馬克龍譴責該暴行，保衛言論自由，一些穆斯林國家的領導人譴責他有伊斯蘭教恐懼症。其中，就包括把國內數千的穆斯林教徒囚禁起來，僅僅是因為他們信錯了教，巴基斯坦的首相比起其他的國家的領導似乎都要因此事感到氣憤。
But some critics seem sincerely to believe that France is the cause, rather than victims, of jihadist attacks on its soil. They often point to its tradition of secularism. This was entrenched by law in 1905, after along struggle with the Catholic church. It protects the right to believe, ornot to believe, and separates religion from public life. No French presidentcould be sworn in on a holy book. No French state school could stage a nativityplay. Some feel that such rules discriminate against Muslims. A ban on 「conspicuous」 religious symbolsin state schools，includes the crucifix, but some Muslims still resent the factthat they (or their daughters) must remove their headscarves at the schoolgate. When Mr. Macron recently announced a crackdown on signs of 「Islamist separatism」, such as homeschooling, which he sees as a pretext for radicalize teaching, he was accused of 「weaponize」 secularis against Muslims.
批評家們似乎認為，法國是事件的起源，其實事實是法國是事件的受害者，是一直存在的聖戰主義者的攻擊受害者。這件事的起源或者根本原因來自於一個根深蒂固的觀念：世俗主義(宗教與教育分離)。該觀念定於1905年，和基督教長久的鬥爭以後，並寫入法律。法律給予公民信仰或不信仰宗教的自由，並且把宗教從公眾生活裡面分開。沒有一位法國總統是在聖經上宣誓就職。也沒有一間法國國立學校可以上演耶穌誕生的劇目。一些人認為，這些規定是對穆斯林教的歧視。禁止在學校出現任何顯眼的宗教符號，但是穆斯林教徒仍然對女同學必須在入校前校門口脫下頭罩的規定充滿怨念。馬克龍總統最近宣布肅清「伊斯蘭教分離主義」的符號意義，例如家庭教育，因為他認為這是極端分配教育的一種藉口。他也被質控武裝世俗主義針對穆斯林教徒。
Most controversial of all for some Muslims, French law protectsthe right to blaspheme and to insult any religion -- although not todiscriminate against an individual on the basis of religious belief. Some seethis, wrongly, as a French campaign to insult Islam. Boycotts of French goods and anti-Macronprotests have taken place from Istanbul to Islamabad.
對穆斯林教徒來說，最飽受爭議的法國法律是：保護公民享有咒罵或者是辱罵穆斯林教徒的權利，但是同時不可以因宗教信仰的不同而辱罵個人。一些人錯誤地認為，這是對侮辱伊斯蘭教的法式宣傳互動。法國貨品的抵制和反馬克龍抗議的活動已經從伊斯坦堡蔓延至伊斯蘭瑪巴德。
Discrimination against Muslims is a real problem in France, asMr Macron implicitly concedes employers are more likely to bin their jobapplications. Mr Macron has vowed to fight racism, and improve opportunitiesfor people in deprived neighborhoods, 「of whatever skin colour,origin, religion」.
其實，在法國對於穆斯林教徒的歧視確實是確有其事，正如馬克龍總統默認那般。僱主的面試邀約率也明顯較低。馬克龍總統已經宣誓抗擊民族主義和提高貧困區域的人民上升機會。
Yet it is important not to lose sight of two points of context.First, more than 250 people have been killed in Islamist terrorist attacks inFrance since 2015. Last year more suspects of jihadist terrorism were arrestedin France than in any other EU country. French intelligence services warn that radicals are waging a war for the minds of the young, especially online, to winrecruits to violence. France is right to be more concerned than most, and to seekto respond firmly.
Second,France is also right to defend free speech. A religion is a set of ideas, andtherefore open to debate and even mockery. Considerate speakers will try not togive gratuitous offence. But governments should not compel them to be inoffensive. If they did, everyone would have to censor themselves, for fear ofoffending the most easily offended person in the audience. And as Mr Patydiscovered, an audience can include anyone on Earth with a phone.
其實，長久以來法國一直飽受宗教問題困擾。首先，2015年以來，在恐怖襲擊中，已經超過250人已經喪失了生命。去年更多的聖戰恐怖主義者在法國的逮捕嫌疑人數已經超過任何其他歐盟國家。法國情報組織警告，極端主義者正在醞釀對年輕人發動思想戰爭，尤其是在線上，目的是為了招聘暴力活動的募集兵。法國因此也理應對如何尋求對此事件做出有力回應更為關注。
其次，法國也有權保衛言論自由。宗教說到底就是觀念的合集，因此，應該接受公開的討論和嘲笑。深思熟慮的發言人也應該儘量不要無端端引發爭議，冒犯他人。但是政府應該強迫他們變得沉默無聲。如果他們這麼做了，每個人都應該去自我反思，因為他們所攻擊的對象是最容易被激怒的。正如帕蒂老師事件揭示：一個觀眾可以用一臺手機連接地球上的任何人。
也許法國人民捍衛的是法國大革命代表的精神：自由、博愛、民主。