To: Anyone who is upset about my previous open letter.

Hi [Insert Name here],

I hope you're doing well.

Firstly, I didn't meant to offend anyone and meant absolutely no disrespect. Try not to read my letter sarcastically. I promise you that's not how I wrote it, but unfortunately you have only my word to go on.

You may have Googled my letter in under 0.3 seconds but you did not notice that I did not at any point say or infer that the Archbishop of Mumbai demanded an apology from the AIB comedy group for jokes that some people consider offensive.

The fact is that he did not ask for an apology.

While you may feel that the letter portrays our Archbishop in a poor light, I disagree. I know for a fact what a kind and thoughtful person he is and I am also aware that the acceptance of this apology was simply to try and end the matter being blown out of proportion by certain fringe groups within the Catholic community.

Not many people understand rght away how beautiful that idea is. To me, that is even bigger than simply turning the other cheek, and that makes me proud. The Archbishop took a hit for everyone and he even supported AIB by saying that being in a democratic country, they had all the right to express themselves.

But in my humble opinion, here's the problem.

Accepting this apology, however well meaning, makes things a little awkward. Every fringe group will now want apologies whenever they see fit and it is by no means anyone's fault. Everyone is simply trying to do what they think is right within this system. The system enables this. It’s the fault of our crummy laws.

But it is the law. If someone can waste everyone's time by filing an FIR because of a joke, what next? I have no follow up line to this because seriously, what next?

We need better free speech laws now.

I am sure even our police and judges are fed up with this kind of stuff. There are far worse things happening in our country. Everyone's behaving like we have nothing better to do. Let’s see some reforms. Come on. What is wrong with us #amirite?

I don't blame you for being upset. I just feel like it's unfair that small groups of people can speak for the majority that wants nothing to do with this alleged offence.

Regards,
José

PS: I hate open letters too.