It can hardly be denied that religion has sometimes provided the pretext for bloody conflicts between peoples, and brutal cruelty towards individuals. The horrific killing of a history teacher in a Paris suburb by a Muslim extremist, apparently because he had shown a class cartoons ridiculing the prophet Muhammad, is a contemporary manifestation of a dark and deadly streak that runs through the history of religion since time immemorial. Christian history is no exception, condoning the persecution and execution of people for apostasy, heresy and blasphemy.

The obvious parallel with the murder of Samuel Paty was the attack on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015, which left 12 dead. Indeed Mr Paty was using images from the magazine to teach his class about freedom of speech. That freedom includes the freedom to insult religious beliefs and to ridicule religious figures. These freedoms should be protected. Nevertheless, respect for what is sacred to others and a certain decent restraint is a mark of any civilised culture. Because a freedom exists, it does not mean it has to be exercised.