bloody spaniard wrote: Having said that, yes, respect for one another is important regardless of whether one worships the one true God or the moon but I thought we lived in a free society where we could burn things such as the flag AND books.
Bingo!
We do live in such a society and the cost of Freedom of speech is having to put up with a message we don't like in return for that freedom we cheerish. This guy had the right to demonstrate on 9/11- free of government interference subject to time and place restrictions (as long as certain other simple rules and laws were followed). Although I do not like him; his message(s); and what and where he wanted to do it yet again this time, I do fiercely believe in his rights/our rights. It is simply the particular dichotomy of content vs. message that bothers/tests me here.
But, there and here is a unique third component to all of this that we rarely see. Those weren't weren't just books. They were religious books. SACRED PRAYER BOOKS! This brings the First Amendment into play in an additional/different way other than just Free Speech. In this instance, Free Speech/freedom of speech v. Free Religion/Freedom of Religion are involved which makes the entire matter far more irritating, disgusting and complex for me.