right because freedom of speech stops at religion amirite?
in France it sure does...except for the religious, not the secularists.
I'm sick to shit of the idea that freedom of religion means those of us who are not religious can never utter a bad word about religious beliefs.
that ain't happening in France. they've outright banned a great many forms of public religious expression. you can't wear your own symbols in their schools. the paternalistic laïcité mentality gives enormous privilege to secularists...I don't think in this particular context (to be painfully clear, the French context) they have the slightest justification for complaint. Americans may give Kri$tianity an unwarranted special place in public discourse, but when the American ideal is upheld in its pure form, it beats the hell out of the homogenizing, cultural imperialist French version.
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Date: 2009-06-23 09:41 am (UTC)in France it sure does...except for the religious, not the secularists.
I'm sick to shit of the idea that freedom of religion means those of us who are not religious can never utter a bad word about religious beliefs.
that ain't happening in France. they've outright banned a great many forms of public religious expression. you can't wear your own symbols in their schools. the paternalistic laïcité mentality gives enormous privilege to secularists...I don't think in this particular context (to be painfully clear, the French context) they have the slightest justification for complaint. Americans may give Kri$tianity an unwarranted special place in public discourse, but when the American ideal is upheld in its pure form, it beats the hell out of the homogenizing, cultural imperialist French version.