Regarding Michael Hoffman's Jan. 25 article, "Amid French crisis, Japan frets over virgins": Hoffman seems to make the usual post-modern mistake of turning an idea into an identity.
Religion is not a race, nor is it inherent in anyone's DNA. It's an idea just like any other.
Hoffman may assume that the only purpose in criticizing religion is to gratuitously offend members of a minority. He is apparently unaware that modern civilization is based on centuries of critical thought and questioning. Socrates and Galileo were also once assumed to be gratuitously offensive by challenging the truths most people accepted without question.
Contrary to the prevailing way of thinking in America and other countries today, it is by no means a universally accepted truth that religion is a good thing. Many people, including the cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo, would contend that belief in a fantastic fairy tale about a spirit in the sky, or whatever, is at best a distraction from the real world we live in. (And before implying that the murdered Charlie Hebdo cartoonists were bigots, note that they lampooned Christianity far more than Islam.)
Without heaven or paradise to look forward to, we might feel we have to devote ourselves to solving the world's problems. This is the main reason people who think for themselves tend to be critical of the various versions of an outdated superstition.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.