Charlie Hebdo Depicts God as Angry Jihadist on Terror Attack Anniversary?
***alt. headline: Charlie Hebdo Blames God for Radical Terror Attack?***
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is marking the one year anniversary of the terror attacks on its offices that killed 12 staff members, by releasing a controversial new cover that seemingly depicts God as a jihadist.
France 24 reported that the cover features "a bearded man with a gun, representing God," with the front page splash reading: "One year on, the killer is still on the run."
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Charlie Hebdo is known for its anti-religious cartoons that have often stirred great controversy, especially with its drawings of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed, which led to firebombing attacks on its offices even before the January 7, 2015 shooting.
The magazine will reportedly be releasing one million copies of its new special edition to mark the anniversary of the attack, in which two Islamic radicals opened fire at its staff inside its Paris offices.
The assault prompted people around the world to show solidarity with the magazine with the "Je Suis Charlie" slogan, standing up for free speech.
Paris suffered an even deadlier attack in November, where Islamic State-linked gunmen killed 130 people in a series of shootings throughout the French capital.
The Guardian noted that the city will hold a number of ceremonies this week to remember the victims of terror, with President Francois Hollande presiding over a planned event on January 10, in which a 10-metre-high commemorative oak tree will be planted.
Charlie Hebdo manager Laurent Sourisseau, meanwhile, strongly defended secularism in an editorial, and denounced "fanatics brutalised by the Koran" and those who oppose the magazine for "daring to laugh at the religious."
"They won't be the ones to see Charlie die – Charlie will see them kick the bucket," the editorial declares.
Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill said last year, however, that the satirical magazine has targeted Christians even worse than Muslims in its cartoons.
"The cartoons of prophet Muhammad are childish caricatures compared to what this publication allows itself in mocking the feelings of Christians," Kirill said in a sermon back then.
"Today, in saying 'no' to terrorism, killings, violence, we also say 'no' to the inexplicable drive by a certain group of people to deride religious feelings," he added.
Another Charlie Hebdo cartoonist, Joann Sfar, responded back in November to the terror attacks in a different way, by writing to what he called "the lovers of death" that if God exists, "he hates you."
"And you have already lost, on Earth as in Heaven," Sfar wrote.
In another image he added: "Terrorism is not an enemy. Terrorism is a way of acting. Repeating 'we are at war' without finding the courage to name our enemies gets us nowhere. Our enemies are those who love death. Under various guises, they have always been there. History forgets them quickly. And Paris dies."
