THE ‘ERA OF FREEDOM’

Satan is to traditional Christian or Muslim ones.” (By arrangement with The Financial Times) Here is a summary of Edward Mortimer’s perspective: According to the author, the controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie’s work has sparked a religious war, a conflict of ideas. The reaction of the British people evokes intense feelings of outrage because it is equally offensive to their own religion. However, the author clarifies that when referring to “our religion,” it is not Christianity. The Christian establishment finds itself in an uncomfortable position regarding this affair. While it strongly disapproves of incitement to murder, it holds some sympathy for the Muslim demand for censorship of “blasphemy.” In Britain, Christianity is no longer the binding religion of the country, as Islam is the religion of Iran. The sense of religious unity and exclusion of non-believers or followers of other faiths in national life is a thing of the past. Instead, the religion of Britain and the broader “free world” is “freedom.” The foundations of this religion can be attributed to figures such as Locke, Voltaire, Burke, Wilkes, and Tom Paine, the authors of the American Constitution and the La Déclaration des droits de l’Homme. Unlike Iranians, the British are taught to consider it primitive to engage in conflicts over metaphysical beliefs and to view the pursuit of freedom as something admirable. While this religion of freedom is not practiced perfectly by all, and not everyone takes it as seriously as journalists who have assumed the role of priests or mullahs of the cult, the