Ms. Freeman made some great points in her premier column on ethics (“The Ethics Behind: Religious Cartoons,” ODE July 13) and I would like to add an important ethical component to this story.
Atheists, agnostics, and others who choose to stick to the facts, are one of the most discriminated against groups on the planet. In the United States you have virtually no chance of being elected to public office if the voters think you are not religious. This type of blatant bigotry makes the mistake of linking morality exclusively to far-fetched beliefs in supernatural deities and other ridiculous taboos. The printing of the Jesus cartoons by The Insurgent was much more like an act of self-defense than an act of war. Atheists are without question the minority that is clearly under attack. The printing of the Mohammed cartoons by the Commentator, whose staff I’m assuming is mostly Christian, was not an example of the minority protecting itself. However, I do commend the Commentator for printing them because it was an important part of the news and deserved to be covered.
Regardless of what the intentions were, the printing of the religious cartoons has helped expose the double-standard imposed by most of the religious community and spurred a much needed debate. Religious people and organizations have no right to special privileges or preferential treatment. Religious ideology doesn’t deserve protection from satire or criticism. Atheists deserve to be judged by the content of their character, not by draconian ideology. Morality must be measured by real life knowledge, not a single text. As Ms. Freeman says, ethics relate to things like honesty, justice, equality, fairness and harm. Atheists are not being treated equally which is causing undue harm. This unequal treatment is certainly not just or fair.
It’s important to mention that The Insurgent is on the cutting edge of ethics. They consistently and courageously run stories that address issues of fairness, justice and violence. I wish I could say the same for the Commentator.
Joshua Welch lives in Eugene