Freedom of Speech Comes with Responsibility, warns Methodist Interfaith Expert

|PIC1|The Secretary for Interfaith Relations for the Methodist Church has warned that freedom of speech in religion must come with responsibility.

Elizabeth Harris was part of a panel at a special interfaith forum that included David Rose, Rabbi of Edinburgh, as well as other faith representatives.

The different faith representatives gathered Monday night in Edinburgh to discuss the topic of the forum, “Freedom of Speech: Responsibility and Respect”.

Freedom of expression in religion was, said Harris, “freedom to express what is closest to us within our own religion...but not freedom to denigrate the religious paths of others, not the religious path we are on in Britain”.

|TOP|Meanwhile Rabbi of Edinburgh David Rose said that freedom of speech in religion should be unhindered as far as possible. He said that a boundary should only be in place if the freedom of speech was used in a racist way – “not about the religion but about the people holding the religion”.

Harris urged members of the forum, however, to consider that freedom of expression in religion comes with responsibility.

“There are boundaries when that freedom is to ridicule others. That is when there is responsibility,” she said.

Panellists were also in agreement that the recent Prophet Mohammad cartoons and the ensuing violent protests throughout parts of the global Muslim population had little to do with freedom of expression on either side.

“Context is very important in this issue,” said Harris. “The flipside of freedom of speech is responsibility; it is never neutral,” she said.

The special meeting took place as part of the ongoing Methodist Conference in Edinburgh this week.

It was organised by the Methodist Interfaith Relations Committee and the Edinburgh Interfaith Association.