sideoftheroad

Everyone knows that it's 'wrong' to talk poorly of one religion, lest ya wanna be labelled a rascist

Well, one thing I find interesting, is that most of the people whom I hear say 'Religion is for the sheep, it's evil, blah blah blah' are the same people that would call me a stereotyping rascist asshole if I, for instance, said I didn't agree with Judaeoism.

Which is interesting. Because, on one hand, it is fine to talk negatively of religion in a broad sense, yet when you nitpick and get specific about certain religions it is a major faux-pa. Unless, of course, it is Christianity, which is exempt from these unwritten social rules.

Now let's say I stated 'Islam is a religion which breeds violence'. This statement isn't saying that Islamic people are violent, it is suggesting that the Islamic texts themselves are. Now how come when someone says this, people get so high-and-mighty and defensive, even if the know less about the religious texts than the person saying it?

Is it really that bad to express one's opinion about a stack of books and doctrines? In this free North America that we live in, how come my access to my freedom of speech is suddenly denied when it involves specific religions?

As I stated before, Christianity is exempt from this. Probably because it is so widespread and is a foundation for North American views and laws, so it is so ingrained in each of us that we are allowed to poke fun. Yet 1 out of 4 people are Muslim, and there are a billion Buddhists in the world. The majority of religious people belong to one of the mainstream groups, so it's not like you have to worry about 'singling them out' - it's more like 'billion-ing them out'

Yet when it comes to those small 'occult' relgions, such as the Raelians and Scientology and whatnot, I can freely refer to them as wacko cults and not really step on peoples' toes. How come? Shouldn't we protect the few, instead of the large?

Nope, because these groups haven't hit a significant number and don't have much global control - and that's where it all comes down to. We are so scared of offending people we won't say what we believe. No, that's not it. It is that we are scared of becoming displaced from our peers and being branded a 'Rascist' (the Left-Side's answer to the Commie ) that we won't dare question the validity of a group's dogma.

So everyone can claim free speech, but the fact is there is something deeper and more innate in us that prevents us from saying things - something that is derived from a media-induced 'tolerance frenzy' that shoves things down our throats and expects us to take it.

Well, no one should have immunity in this world. Saying 'I hate Joe' should be frowned upon more than saying 'I have a strong dislike towards the precepts declared in the Torah', because we are talking about a living person here, not a book on a shelf.