Reply #81: If this is your idea of "liberal"...

[JackRiddler]

I'm going to stick with the original enlightenment of Diderot (you know, strangling the last king with the guts of the last priest and that stuff).

People believe a lot of exotic stuff. And? By your logic, Salman Rushdie had the fatwa coming to him.

If I point out that some Arabian merchant speaking in tongues 1500 years ago and demanding obedience, conquest and tribute sounds more like a scam than God's work (whatever the nice philosophy that may be attached), then I got it coming, too, eh?

Imagine I started a thread like this:

"Okay, once and for all. Fetuses are full-fledged human beings and abortion is murder."

then arguing that this is what certain religious people believe, so we have to respect it.

Torture is the issue here, by the way. If the Koran flushing was part of an art show, I'd say it's protected speech. Since it was (allegedly) part of a torture... that's what makes it reprehensible.