Recent comments to the UN’s ‘Human Rights’ Council from Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, head of the Vatican’s mission to Turtle Bay merit careful reading and, in particular, this: “One cannot consider the ridicule of the sacred as a right of freedom…respect of the rights and dignity of others should mark the limit of any right, even that of the free expression and manifestation of one’s opinions, religious ones included.”

Hmmm.

Meanwhile one correspondent emails me with this observation on the recent French ‘religious insult’ case: “If, as these Muslims (and, for that matter, I) believe, God is all powerful, he is quite able to deal with blasphemers without the questionable assistance of courts, legislators, bureaucrats, lawyers, and the like. It’s His name, let Him defend it.”

Quite.