9 comments

1. 

   Craig says:

   September 16, 2010 at 9:48 pm (UTC -8)

   Unless my remembering of the judicial system is way off, wouldn’t appealing prop 8 all the way to the supreme court threaten to overturn all prohibition of gay marriage? Or can the supreme court find it unconstitutional federally when looking at a question regarding state constitutions?

2. 

   Jim says:

   September 16, 2010 at 11:25 pm (UTC -8)

   The argument you gave for not burning the Quran could just as easily be used to argue against drawing Muhammad, or doing anything else which may offend the Muslims.

   I think this issue was a turning point in American History. Instead of standing up in support of freedom of speech, you have a General (THE GENERAL) in the American Armed Forces begging that people not exercise their freedoms because he is afraid. Perhaps we should send an army over there to protect this coward of a general.

   The armed forces are supposedly over there to protect our freedoms yet they, and Obama are whining, and cringing in fear of what may happen if people do exercise their right to freedom of speech.

   America has jumped the shark, and is now Islam’s BITCH!

3. 

   Graham says:

   September 17, 2010 at 5:14 am (UTC -8)

   Its not morally wrong to burn books (its not a moral issue, replace your question with “Is it morally wrong to re-use a VHS tape (showing my age), there’s no difference). Sometimes however it is, well, dickish. destroying any symbol has to be done for a significant reason, to piss off thousands of Muslims and incite them to violence seems like a pretty crappy one. To protest the encroachment of religious bigotry and interference in your secular nation (I’m British and Canadian) seems like a much better and much more important one.

   You didn’t mention the media in your podcast, there’s seems to be some responsibility there for what has happened, I mean who cares about some nobody in a tiny church in Florida? how on earth did this get to any mainstream media, its just so mindbogglingly unimportant.

   I can’t say I agree with everything that the US does, and you guys are correct in talking about the different perspective other nations may have being different, not necessarily better, but I do have say, after learning more about your constitution, its a bloody magnificent document, if you could actually live by it, the US truly would be a nation to look up to (to be fair, I can say the same thing about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms here in Canada).

4. 

   Coughcool says:

   September 17, 2010 at 5:27 am (UTC -8)

   Hi guys another great show. I do live in Indiana. I just don’t think I could sit through all the B.S. for an entire day of the Galileo Was Wrong Conference .They did picked the right state for this Conference. Not a lot of Atheist/humanists/Freethinkers in Indiana. If you are close minded, Bigoted, and anti-intellectual Indiana is the state to be.
   Thanks for the podcast and thanks for Atheist Nexus.

5. 

   Timothy says:

   September 17, 2010 at 1:54 pm (UTC -8)

   In response to Jim, the “coward” of a general isn’t against burning the Qu’ran because he’s afraid of Islam, he’s against the burning of the Qu’ran because it will make his job infinitely more problematic, and it’s not even because there might be more violence towards his soldiers.

   We’re not fighting a traditional war, and if we keep just trying to shoot more than the other guy, we’re going to lose. This “coward” of a general knows this, and so is trying to fight the war by making the enemies territory hostile towards them. Fairly reasonably, burning the Qu’ran is not only not going to help, it’s more than likely going to be counter productive as it’s yet another recruiting tool for the enemy to use to show America as being the definite enemy since we’re hostile to all Islam, as well as yet another way to keep the populace from being uncooperative with the soldiers.

6. 

   Eric says:

   September 19, 2010 at 11:20 am (UTC -8)

   @Jim:As long as he’s over there and you’re over here, I think we can see who more qualifies as a coward.

7. 

   Eric says:

   September 19, 2010 at 11:31 am (UTC -8)

   I think burning a book can be morally wrong. I think infringing on someones rights is morally wrong. Burning a book can be an exercise of free speech. However, burning every copy forcing the ideas contained in a title out of existence is an infringement on other peoples free speech. So if eradication is their goal then yes it has gone beyond their right to make a statement to infringing on mine.

8. 

   Steve says:

   September 20, 2010 at 1:45 am (UTC -8)

   Listening to the show I get the impression that Richard thinks Europe is a disaster, that we’re being taken over by religious extremists and our having our freedoms removed by pro-religious laws. Most European countries do not have the idea of separation of church and state enshrined in their constitutions, indeed many countries have established national churches. And yes, there are lots of Muslims living here who would like to live by Sharia Law. But that said, in reality Europe, certainly Western Europe, is a far more secular and less crazy-religious than the constitutionally-secular US. Religious zealots, including the Muslims, have far less influence here than they do in the US.

9. 

   Becky says:

   October 2, 2010 at 12:48 pm (UTC -8)

   Speaking of books that set out the rules to kill someone who doesn’t believe the same way you do reminded me not of books or of killing. What it did remind me of though was Alberto Gonzales and the other attorney (whose name escapes me) writing papers, letters, memos, on who, when, and why Americans can torture people. Same thing? I think so.
   One more note, I have never had any negative feelings toward Jewish folks, I am related to a few. I have felt over the years, however, that Israel is a terrorist state.