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The Meaning of Freedom?

Some people don’t seem to understand that freedom of speech applies to everyone, not just people they agree with. Two examples:

In Colorado, a student-run high school newspaper decided to endorse Hillary Clinton for president. What happened next was shocking. Local Trump supporters exploded in anger, demanding that the paper give equal space to Donald Trump and saying that the paper’s staff should be suspended from school. One of the paper’s student editors said “Some of the stuff we’ve seen on Facebook is quite disgusting. There were a lot of personal attacks that seemed out of bounds. It almost borders on bullying.”

The English teacher who is the faculty advisor for the paper was called a “communist” and a “socialist”, and accused of indoctrinating students. They demanded that he be fired. That’s right, they wanted the school (a governmental entity) to punish him for not censoring the students.

The second example involves a billboard in Nebraska put up by a local organization of atheists. The billboard read “The Good Life without God? It’s possible.”

Lincoln Atheists

Apparently, stating that it is possible for atheists to have a good life is not acceptable in Nebraska. There were so many complaints that the billboard company took the sign down almost immediately. Of course, this is not a case of free speech rights, as no governmental entity was involved. But it does show massive intolerance towards freedom of religion.

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3 Comments

  1. Yudith wrote:

    Atheists should rent the board again and sublet it to a moderate Muslim association, see if Nebraska likes it. And when this ad gets removed, they could have a Satanist association rent it. Meanwhile, they could post ads in the student’s pro-Hillary paper, along with an article explaining what is socialism and what is endoctrination.

    Saturday, October 29, 2016 at 7:05 am | Permalink
  2. Ralph wrote:

    Funny, but when it come to the Second Amendment, conservatives insist it guarantees our freedom to bear any and all arms, bar none. But for the First Amendment as applied to freedom FROM religion, it’s…Katy bar the door! This seems to apply in public life whether you’re an R, a D, an L, G, or even an I.

    Exhibit A: Number of elected officials who are avowed atheists: 0

    Saturday, October 29, 2016 at 9:33 am | Permalink
  3. Wildwood wrote:

    This is why I, a believer that religion is wrong on many levels, donated to the Satanists for their monuments on courthouse lawns. Just a pittance but now perhaps I can donate a little something to this group.

    Saturday, October 29, 2016 at 11:39 pm | Permalink