Paris | Nearly 10 years after the Islamist attack which decimated its editorial staff in Paris, the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo launched an international caricature competition, #LaughDeDieu, to denounce “the influence of all religions” on society.
Twelve people lost their lives on January 7, 2015 in the attack by jihadists on the weekly, which had published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
“To those who are tired of living in a society ruled by God and religion, to those who are tired of being bombarded with so-called good and evil, to those who are tired of all the leaders religious who dictate our lives to us”, Charlie Hebdo launches “an international competition”: “Draw your anger against the influence of all religions on your freedoms.”
This competition, which will end on December 15, is aimed at “professional cartoonists and press cartoonists of all ages”. The editorial team will publish “the best drawing(s) in Charlie Hebdo».
The editorial line of Charlie Hebdoan atheist, has never varied.
For the first anniversary of the jihadist attack that decimated his team, Charlie Hebdo had released a special issue with a bearded God on the front page, armed with a Kalashnikov and wearing a bloody outfit, under the title “1 year later, the assassin is still at large”.
At the end of August 2024, two Catholic associations filed a complaint in Paris against the satirical newspaper for “incitement and provocation to religious hatred”, after the publication on August 16 of a caricature of the Virgin Mary, accompanied by the caption “Monkey pox : first appearance of the virus in Europe”.
“We can laugh at God […]but without offending the religious feelings of the faithful,” Pope Francis warned in mid-June, receiving a hundred comedians from around fifteen countries.
