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>But if a believer demands that I, as a nonbeliever, observe his
> taboos in the public domain, he is not asking for my respect, but for
> my submission. And that is incompatible with a secular democracy.
So if a woman bares her breasts in public because she believes that clothing is dishonest, arresting her is incompatible with a secular democracy? If a cartoonist in the US draws an explicit comic of a man having sex with a goat, and they refuse to publish it, is that incompatible with democracy? Is that asking for society's submission?
Every culture has its own taboos; some of them codified into law. The problem here is not that the cartoonist broke some taboos - if he did, then by all means boycott the paper or whatever. The problem is not that he broke a law - if he did, arrest him (or the publisher or whoever.) The problem is that their _reaction_ was unreasonable. Had all the Muslims of the world boycotted the paper (or even had the cartoonist arrested and tried under local laws) I would have had no problems with their actions. Instead a bunch of extremists started rioting - and THAT'S the problem.
The most interesting part of the whole brou-ha-ha is that those cartoons were published in an Egyptian newspaper back in October, and nobody rioted then.
rasmack 0
***Drugstores are allowed to refuse to serve people based on religious principles.
Wendy, this statement has really piqued my interest. Please let me know specifically what that is all about.
I'm not Wendy but I'll venture a guess she was talking about contraception and morning-after pills.
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...
Andy9o8 2
I'm not Wendy but I'll venture a guess she was talking about contraception and morning-after pills.
Here's one article I found with a quick Google of the topic that gives a brief overview of the issue as it seems to present itself in the US:
http://columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=18089
Wendy, this statement has really piqued my interest. Please let me know specifically what that is all about.
Richards