More than 200 writer/novelist members of the Pen American Center have protested the group's decision to give its annual courage award for freedom of expression to the staff of France's Charlie Hebdo, which suffered the murder of a dozen staffers to Muslim terrorists.

hebdoThey claim Charlie's cartoons are offensive to Islam and fosters bigotry toward Arabs. The Pen protestors are wrong.

There's no question that Charlie publishes material that is sometimes juvenile and offensive to Muslims and other organizations. Pope Francis and the Catholic Church are frequent targets of Charlie's tough satire.

Freedom of expression, however, covers offensive materials not deemed to be obscene.

The purpose of free speech is to protect the views of those we do not agree with. The same protection applies to Pamela Geller, whose mission in life is to stir up hatred toward Arabs.

A meeting of a Geller event, which was attended by more than 200 people, was the target of two gunmen who were killed by a single police officer in Texas on Sunday.

Muzzling Charlie's satire or Geller's hatred is an attack on free society.

Alain Mabanckou, a French-Congolese writer, will present the courage award to Charlie Hebdo at an American Museum of Natural History gala tonight.

The UCLA professor has rejected critics of tonight's award, calling the push "efforts by a small minority of radical extremists to place broad categories of speech off limits" even in the face of extreme violence. He's right on target.

Congratulations, Charlie. Keep it up!