Freedom of speech and religion

[Mom_of_one]

Help! I am a member on another forum(which is not as nice as this one). Someone started a thread on the episode of South Park that defiled the Virgin Mary and how it will not be shown again. Then, someone posted a link to an extremely vile, evil, disgusting picture that had Jesus doing something absolutely horrible, supposedly to prove a point. (The poster was then banned and the link deleted, BTW)

I posted on freedom of speech having it’s limits. I received several replies, which I answered, but the one that has me stumped was: “But poking fun at religion isn’t one of them”

I know we have freedom of speech in this country, but does that mean that any show, person, book, newspaper, etc, should be able to say anything they want about another’s religion? Where do we draw the line? What can I say to this poster?

And, any other comments about freedom of speech are welcome.

 

[Dr.Colossus]

I would answer that they are correct, “poking fun” is perfectly acceptable. However, defamation, slander, libel, etc is not. Taking the example of the image of Jesus that they linked to, I wonder how they would react if someone created such a caricature of them and posted it on the Internet for everyone to see? In the United States at least, that would likely be grounds for a lawsuit.

 

[Lorarose]

They’re blending issues.
In this country some forms of pornography are legal because of freedom of expression…right?
So why isn’t it on mainstream TV everyday and everynight of the week?
It’s because the majority of Americans are offended by it and don’t want their kids seeing it.

The folks at South Park think it is their mission to take on subjects that they feel people have declared to be “untouchable”
In their eyes…what better than the Virgin Mary?

Well…now they’re learning there is a segment of the viewing public that is offended and doesn’t care to view this garbage.
They won’t get arrested for creating the episode.
They can show it to their friends. They can show it on other settings - but they have received public pressure not to show it on regular cable television.
That’s the way the cookie crumbles.

 

[Julia_E]

Who was it who defined freedom not as the right to whatever we want, but rather the right to do what we ought?

I think this also applies to freedom of speech. With freedom comes responsibility.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Some people misunderstand these freedoms.

These freedoms only grant us the freedoms from the Government restricting them in any way.

They do not grant us the freedom over others.

That is no one has to publish or produce something that they disagree with. No one has to read or watch something that they disagree with.

We are also just as free in showing our dislike of such garbage and to criticize it.

We can even stop watching channels that promote such garbage and stop buying products that support it. I no longer watch ComedyCentral as it seems they love this garbage. It seems that their favorite movie is Dogma.