The attack on Sir Salman Rushdie last Friday was perhaps the culmination of a decades-long struggle between the author and prohibition on freedom of speech, a fight the Indian-born novelist never, in fact, picked. It started with Sir Salman’s book – The Satanic Verses – for which Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued the author with a death sentence, or fatwa, in 1989.
While no firm motive has been established for the attack, motivations have been assumed by many. Whatever the outcome of the investigation, for Christians the incident is a reminder of what Catholics and others must never succumb to: the prohibition on criticism or mockery of their faith, and the use of violence to enforce punishment.
