In 2012, a man in Saudi Arabia was executed for practicing witchcraft; last year, guest workers were put on trial in Saudi Arabia for “witchcraft and sorcery”; already this year, reports surfaced of the Islamic State’s having beheaded a street magician in Syria; and, of course there was the attack in Paris on Charlie Hebdo.

The most recent events overshadowed North Korea’s Christmastime hacking of Sony over “The Interview.” Yet the people who hacked Sony, the men who reportedly murdered the magician, and the terrorists in Paris all share a hatred of free speech and democracy. They also share the wrongheaded belief that brutality and force can suppress the human spirit and its inevitable expression through art. They’re fighting a losing battle.

As a magician and a student of magic history, I can attest that magic has often run afoul of zealots. I have numerous copies of “The Discoverie of Witchcraft.” It was written in 1584 to show that what people thought was the devil’s work was sleight of hand. King James I wasn’t persuaded. He ordered every copy burned. His suppressive efforts failed. In an era when books were hard to print, hundreds of copies came to be produced. An obscure title became a hot item.

As they say in the movie business, cut to:

Moscow, mid-1990s. I’m performing. The Russian Orthodox Church claims that my show is anti-religion. Picket lines form outside the theater.