MSNBC Guest: ‘We Have to Respect Islam ... Not Poke Our Fingers in Other People’s Eyes’

EVAN KOHLMANN: "To be honest, if you look at Charlie Hebdo, they don't just make fun of Islam. They make fun of religion. The philosophy of Charlie Hebdo, secularism. It's a tradition in French, secularist philosophy. At times this can be very cutting against religion. Part of that has to do with the history of France and the role religion played in the history of France. Not great things happening. So, some of this is part of that. But look, I think we need to understand here, there has to be the ability for people to be critical of other religions, of other ideas and whatnot. There has to be that ability. At the same time, look, we have to also respect Islam and we should not deliberately go out and poke our fingers in other people's eyes, you know. There is -- everyone should have the right to critique Islam, but at least we should do it with some sense of respect so that people don't get the idea that this is Islamaphobia, or the same we would apply to Christianity, Judaism. Look, it's worthy of critique and debate."