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dreadgeek · 09-07-2010, 02:46 PM

Before I go to lunch, since this is on my mind, I wanted to post and I hope folks, particularly folks on the other side of this issue, will think about it:

If I stand up and shout loudly and long about how much I value and treasure MY right to free speech or MY right to practice the religion of my choice, I've told you nothing much about my commitment to those principles. Any fool, once she figures out she has a right to free speech and religion, is going to be all in favor of her rights. If, on the other hand, I stand up and shout loudly and long about my support of the right of expression of the person who espouses an idea that I not just disagree with but find odious and deeply offensive, NOW you've learned something useful about how much I mean it when I say I believe in free speech. Likewise, if I stand up and defend the right of someone to practice the religion that I not only don't practice, but wouldn't practice if you paid me, that I don't know much about and what I do know, I don't like THEN you can tell something about how deep my commitment is to freedom of conscience and religion.

The First Amendment is not, as many Americans suppose, there to protect Christianity in a nation that is majority Christian. If you are a Christian, your religious freedom is protected because your religion is in the majority. The First Amendment is there to protect the Jew, the Muslim, the Buddhist, the Hindu, the Atheist, the Pagan, the Sikh and others. Yes, it protects Christians as well but Christians don't *need* the protection--the minority religions do. In the same vein, the First Amendment doesn't protect the popular opinion. It isn't there to protect proclaiming that Jesus is Lord nor is it there to protect chanting USA! USA! USA! at the least provocation. Rather, it is there to protect the scholar who says that there's scant evidence that the historical Jesus actually existed and that the Gospel stories borrow liberally from other myths that were known in the Levant at the beginning of the Common Era. It is there to protect the person who says "well, America is good but then there's slavery or the decimation of the native populations or the unprovoked invasion of Iraq..." The popular position NEEDS no protection, it is the least popular opinion, the one that you wish the speaker would shut the hell up and never say another word, that needs protection.

That is how we know whether someone means it when they say that they believe in free speech and freedom of conscience.

Cheers
Aj

09-07-2010, 02:46 PM	#210
dreadgeek Power Femme How Do You Identify?: Cinnamon spiced, caramel colored, power-femme Preferred Pronoun?: She Relationship Status: Married to a wonderful horse girl Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Lat: 45.60 Lon: -122.60 Posts: 1,733 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 1,132 Thanked 6,844 Times in 1,493 Posts Rep Power: 21474852	One other thing Before I go to lunch, since this is on my mind, I wanted to post and I hope folks, particularly folks on the other side of this issue, will think about it: If I stand up and shout loudly and long about how much I value and treasure MY right to free speech or MY right to practice the religion of my choice, I've told you nothing much about my commitment to those principles. Any fool, once she figures out she has a right to free speech and religion, is going to be all in favor of her rights. If, on the other hand, I stand up and shout loudly and long about my support of the right of expression of the person who espouses an idea that I not just disagree with but find odious and deeply offensive, NOW you've learned something useful about how much I mean it when I say I believe in free speech. Likewise, if I stand up and defend the right of someone to practice the religion that I not only don't practice, but wouldn't practice if you paid me, that I don't know much about and what I do know, I don't like THEN you can tell something about how deep my commitment is to freedom of conscience and religion. The First Amendment is not, as many Americans suppose, there to protect Christianity in a nation that is majority Christian. If you are a Christian, your religious freedom is protected because your religion is in the majority. The First Amendment is there to protect the Jew, the Muslim, the Buddhist, the Hindu, the Atheist, the Pagan, the Sikh and others. Yes, it protects Christians as well but Christians don't need the protection--the minority religions do. In the same vein, the First Amendment doesn't protect the popular opinion. It isn't there to protect proclaiming that Jesus is Lord nor is it there to protect chanting USA! USA! USA! at the least provocation. Rather, it is there to protect the scholar who says that there's scant evidence that the historical Jesus actually existed and that the Gospel stories borrow liberally from other myths that were known in the Levant at the beginning of the Common Era. It is there to protect the person who says "well, America is good but then there's slavery or the decimation of the native populations or the unprovoked invasion of Iraq..." The popular position NEEDS no protection, it is the least popular opinion, the one that you wish the speaker would shut the hell up and never say another word, that needs protection. That is how we know whether someone means it when they say that they believe in free speech and freedom of conscience. Cheers Aj __________________ Proud member of the reality-based community. "People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness. And so, the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn’t that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people. As soon as you saw people as things to be measured, they didn’t measure up." (Terry Pratchett)