The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
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9 September 2010 Last updated at 22:22 GMT
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11254419
Why US government could not have stopped the Koran bonfire
By Katie Connolly BBC News, Washington
Flag burning offends many Americans, but it is protected under the constitution
The postponement of a small Florida church's plans to burn Korans was
not a result of government intervention. Nor was it the the product of
a legal challenge.
Pastor Terry Jones claims the issue was resolved through private
negotiation with a New York imam, amid talk of repercussions for US
troops abroad.
In fact, there was little the federal government could do but but
watch - the US constitution rendered it almost powerless to stop the
bonfire.
The United States stands apart from many other Western democracies in
priding itself on a near absolute commitment to allowing freedom of
speech.
It is enshrined in the First Amendment to the US constitution,
alongside the right to free exercise of religion.
"Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of
the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble," the
relevant passage says.
Deeply ingrained in the American psyche, these rights are seen almost
as a matter of national identity.
"The fundamental principle is that the government cannot restrict
speech based on its content, even if an audience finds it offensive,"
says Prof Tim Zick, a First Amendment specialist from the William and
Mary Law School.
"A speaker's autonomy to express himself - even in this deeply
offensive manner - is, if not sacrosanct, then very highly regarded."
As a nation, he says, America has made a very different calculation
about the protection of the speaker versus the dignity of the audience
than many countries in Europe. America prioritises the autonomy of the
speaker.
Denying the Holocaust, for example, is illegal in 16 European
countries. Germany has banned the production and dissemination of
pro-Nazi material.
But in the US, the courts have protected the rights of Nazis to
express their views.
In one well-known case, the Supreme Court invoked the First Amendment
to uphold the right of a neo-Nazi group to march through the
predominantly Jewish town of Skokie, Illinois, and display swastikas.
Symbolic messages
The courts have decided that speech encompasses a wide array of
non-verbal actions intended to communicate a message. That means
symbolic acts such as the burning of a cross or Bible are protected
under the free speech clause.
"Generally the first amendment protects offensive, repugnant and even
hateful speech," says David Hudson, a scholar at the First Amendment
Center in Washington DC.
That is why, in America, demonstrators can legally burn the American
flag or the Ku Klux Klan can burn crosses, even though such activities
can both outrage and offend.
"Even with respect to one of our most sacred symbols - the American
flag - burning is lawful," says Mr Zick.
Such protections exist only up to a point. When speech crosses the
line into threats which may directly incite violence or lawlessness,
the First Amendment no longer applies.
Mr Hudson stresses that for legal purposes a threat must be imminent.
"You have to show the immediacy of harm," he says
Full article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11254419
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WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its full
capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not mean that I
agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL" means that I believe
it is important for the people of this planet to know about what people think or
do, even when what they think or do is completely stupid and against our
philosophy. When I selected articles in the past about stupid Christian
fundamentalists in America praying for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader
was stupid enough to believe that I was supporting praying to change the
weather. So, when I select articles which are in favor of drugs, anti-semitic,
anti-Jewish, racist, revisionist, or inciting hatred against any group or
religion, or any other stupid article, it does not mean that I support them. It
just means that it is important for all human beings to know about them. Common
sense, which is usually very good among our readers, is good enough to
understand that. When, like in the recent articles on drug decriminalization, it
is necessary to make it clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very
clear: I support decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed
and sad people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin
their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is any change
to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any drug except for
medical purposes. The same applies to the freedom of expression which must be
absolute. That does not mean again of course that I agree with anti-Jews,
antisemites, racists of any kind or anti-Raelians. But by knowing your enemies
or the enemies of your values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love
and respect of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher
Voltaire in mind: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death
your right to say it".
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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