Well stated Adam. And as you say it applies to not only religion but to virtually any aspect of speech under the sun.
If one does a bit of research they'd find that groups like Jehovah's Witnesses, and particularly Jehovah's Witnesses have fought and won legal battles in the Supreme Court of The United States, The World Court, and elsewhere, that have secured the rights to feedom of expression and religion for not just themselves, but for everyone that falls under the jurisdiction of those courts. The result is that they've aided in securing those freedoms for groups that they are diametrically opposed to as well. And as has been stated many times, once the government can restrict the freedoms or speech of one group, it's a short step to restricting them for others. There are exceptions of course. So next time one walks by a tract passer or receives a knock on their door, instead of being bothered, one could reflect on the fact that the feedom to express one's beliefs in public is not a freedom enjoyed everywhere in the world. Tom C. >> So their right to preach over-rides my right to follow my own beliefs? >> > > In public they have the right to preach. You have the right not to > listen, to mock them, to preach your own beliefs next to them or to > try and shout them down. You don't have the right to force them to > shut up. Note this is not a Freedom of Religion issue but rather > Freedom of Speech. > > Freedom of Religion is the freedom to practice or not practice a > religion. The latter is the only aspect of Freedom from Religion there > is. You do not have the right to not hear about religion in public (as > that is a violation of the Freedom of Speech rights of those who are > religious). > > -Adam -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
