In my opinion you should be permitted to say exactly what you like about the character of gods of all faiths, including Christianity, without laws to prevent you doing so. Until fairly recently there was a blasphemy law in the UK, which only applied to Christianity, although goodness knows when anyone was prosecuted under it. The law was repealed when it was suggest it should apply to all faiths.
The governments job isn't to enforce religion or religious beliefs. Thats essentially what they are doing if they have laws against blasphemy only extending to Christianity. Extending to all religions? That's just silly and an infringement on the idea of freedom of speech.
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I wouldn't worry too much about blasphemy laws in regards to what you can or cannot say about Christians. In researching this topic online I noticed that the only countries that have serious laws about blasphemy are the Islamic countries. There won't be any laws against blasphemy in the U.S., but there will be laws about hate speech. Freedom of speech will allow blasphemy of all religions and faiths, but freedom of speech will not be allowed when it comes to other topics such as homosexuality.
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"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." -- Micah 6:8
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There won't be any laws against blasphemy in the U.S., but there will be laws about hate speech. Freedom of speech will allow blasphemy of all religions and faiths, but freedom of speech will not be allowed when it comes to other topics such as homosexuality.
Doesn't that sound a bit paranoid to you? Can you name one person who has been arrested for saying they disagreed with homosexuality in the United States?
There won't be any laws against blasphemy in the U.S., but there will be laws about hate speech. Freedom of speech will allow blasphemy of all religions and faiths, but freedom of speech will not be allowed when it comes to other topics such as homosexuality.
Can you provide a source? Hate speech, as I understand it, is only an issue in conjunction with establishing a hate crime. As for not liking homosexuals, or, for that matter, any ethnic or religious group, you can say whatever you want as long as you don't incite anyone to commit a crime. For example, you can say that people from Ohio should all be drawn and quartered, but you can't say "hey, let's go draw and quarter some Ohians."
When was the law repealed? I can't remember hearing about it. Now all we have to do is abolish the monarchy, make the second House elected, remove the Executive from the Legislature, decide once and for all whether we're two countries plus a principality plus a territory all rolled in to one or one country, bring in proportional representation and then the UK might not be such an embarrassment! Oh, and the execution by hanging for burning Her Majesty's shipyards thing...
As it stands AFAIK, existing and proposed 'hate speech' laws do not proscribe just saying you hate people...they are simply there to stop incitement to crime. A brutal dictator may well not actually murder anyone, but she still orders the murders, and should be held accountable. To tell someone to go and attack Mr Bloggs who lives at no. 25 clearly makes one an accessory and is therefore a criminal act...surely that is not different when it applies to a group. To say "We should attack Jews/Christians/gays/people born on Tuesday/etc." is a criminal act.
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Doesn't that sound a bit paranoid to you? Can you name one person who has been arrested for saying they disagreed with homosexuality in the United States?
I may be overreacting, but it's articles like this and this that make me wonder what direction the laws about hate speech may eventually take.
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"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." -- Micah 6:8
Miles run in 2011 - 863
Miles run in 2012 - 600
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I may be overreacting, but it's articles like this and this that make me wonder what direction the laws about hate speech may eventually take.
One seems like the FBI responding to what was reported as a pastor calling for a war against abortion clinics. The FBI must take these types of reports seriously, since there have been abortion clinic bombings. Did they place him under arrest? Did they do anything other than question him? If my neighbor called the FBI and said they overheard me say that someone should bomb a US base, I'm sure I'd be questioned even if it was a joke or if they misunderstood what I said. This is no different, except it is a pastor. Clearly this article is an attempt to cause people to overreact to a situation that makes perfect sense.
The second article is about Canada. I'm not sure what the basis for Canadian law is, so many one of our visitors from the north can shed some light on it.
Oh, and the execution by hanging for burning Her Majesty's shipyards thing...
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