'The right to freedom of expression does not imply the right to offend religious beliefs.'
[ support:-66% : certainty:17 ] · [9 replies] ·
[0 comment]
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In order to have freedom of expression, a society needs tolerance of expression. It is the responsibility of the listener to be tolerant of what is being told, no matter how offensive it is. The listener can either choose not to listen, or to criticize the offensive expression. Religious beliefs, no matter how much emotion is involved, should not be considered different from any other belief.
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oppose 80% · Re: Tolerancemoderated to 100%; argued down by 20%
by metric on 2006-02-04 23:47:03It is correct that freedom of expression should be maintained. Though it is the responsibility of the speaker to not deliberately cause harm from such expression. eg. I have the right to yell fire in a crowded theatre, though I should be held responsible for any harm in doing so if there is no fire. If offensive religous expressions are known to cause violence, then it is the responsibility of the speaker to express in a way as to not cause harm.
summary
title: 'Re: Tolerance'
text: 'It is correct that freedom of expression should be maintained. Though it is the responsibility of the speaker to not deliberately cause harm from such expression. eg. I have the right to yell fire in a crowded theatre, though I should be held responsible for any harm in doing so if there is no fire. If offensive religous expressions are known to cause violence, then it is the responsibility of the speaker to express in a way as to not cause harm.'
tags: metric,freedom,speech,expression,religion,violence
date: 2006-02-04 23:47:03
submitter: metric
effective: 0.8
support: 0
oppose: 1
stancePos: 4
stanceNeg: 0
stanceEffective:
repliesSupport: 0
repliesOppose: 1
repliesTotal: 1
comments: 0
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