Salman Rushdie stabbed



Frijj said:
Whilst I agree with you, I don’t think that there should be consequences for strong speech against a religion itself…followers of a religion are something else, they’re people, but I don’t think there should be any legal consequences for expressing hate towards a religion, or just religion as a whole.
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You sure? Using that logic it would be ok to paint swastikas on the side of synagogues. That's not expressing hatred towards any one follower but a group as a whole.
 
Paddy O'Dors said:
You sure? Using that logic it would be ok to paint swastikas on the side of synagogues. That's not expressing hatred towards any one follower but a group as a whole.
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I’m not sure how that logic follows mate.

Painting a swastika on a synagogue wall isn’t just expressing hatred for a religion, it’s using a symbol of genocide against that religion’s followers, in an attempt to intimidate said followers.

I am not aiming to legitimise hatred of believers - but I don’t think there should be laws against expressing hatred of a particular faith.

I appreciate there may be blurring of lines there, but if there are legal limits on expressing your feelings about a belief system, that’s effectively criminalising blasphemy and living under theocratic law.

If someone hates Christianity, they should be free to express that.
 
Frijj said:
I’m not sure how that logic follows mate.

Painting a swastika on a synagogue wall isn’t just expressing hatred for a religion, it’s using a symbol of genocide against that religion’s followers, in an attempt to intimidate said followers.

I am not aiming to legitimise hatred of believers - but I don’t think there should be laws against expressing hatred of a particular faith.

I appreciate there may be blurring of lines there, but if there are legal limits on expressing your feelings about a belief system, that’s effectively criminalising blasphemy and living under theocratic law.

If someone hates Christianity, they should be free to express that.
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Do you think it would be okay for a group of people to march through a town shouting "I hate Judaism"? Mob rule would dictate that would be fairly intimidating for anyone in the vicinity who is Jewish. Religious hatred is already illegal in this country atm anyway I think, and we're one of the most liberal on the planet.
 
Paddy O'Dors said:
Do you think it would be okay for a group of people to march through a town shouting "I hate Judaism"? Mob rule would dictate that would be fairly intimidating for anyone in the vicinity who is Jewish. Religious hatred is already illegal in this country atm anyway I think, and we're one of the most liberal on the planet.
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I don’t think having a rally or march in favour of it would be appropriate, no. Again, I think that would be with the intent to intimidate.

It shouldn’t be illegal to say that you hate a religion though. Religion isn’t an inherently good thing.
 
West_Winger said:
They never seem to understand that freedom of speech isn’t the same as freedom from consequences.

You could say some celebrity is a massive paedo and nobody can stop you. The celebrity concerned can quite easily sue for libel though.
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Who are they?
People should be free to voice any ideas no matter how much some would like to suppress them. Incitement and defamatory comments are another matter.
 

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