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What do you think? Should this street preacher be charged?

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magsdee
Disabled
Joined in 2006
May 22, 2010, 19:43

Tis’ quite the can of worms aint it :steve: how long and how many actual centuries have we endured the street preacher or billboard holder saying “the end is nigh” or preaching judgement on all people? Mostly they have been ignored as a little “looney” or plain over the top. Most of us who have been christians for longer than 5mins know theres a time and place for everything and a time to hold our tongue, at the best I always ignored a person like the one mentioned and the majority of people do, Im thinking have we become too “precious” about things we well know are just the rantings of a looney or the rantings of a person with no malicious intent, that we put people in jail for the slightest thing (whilst so many legit crimes get ignored), I mean people are getting taken to court for the misunderstanding that a parent is filming their child because that parent is acting like a paedophile 🙁 in protecting and defending our rights and freedom have we gone too far so that we no longer have freedom and have to watch “everything” we say or do for fear of offending someone….anyone and then because of new “politically correct”laws getting our butts thrown in jail…in seeking freedom and acceptance have we made a whole bunch of new bonds or chains?…just my thoughts!


ps: dont get me wrong, Im all for acceptance of all people as equal and for the quashing of mistreatment we get for being glbtqi but as anything hopefully it doesnt get stretched out of proportion.



Meyerink
 
Joined in 2009
June 18, 2010, 21:30

right here in queensland we had a similar case. it happened in gympie.


A local councillor got taken to court by a lesbian couple for an offensive bumper sticker.


http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/anti-gay-sticker-went-too-far/story-e6freoof-1111117566673



magsdee
Disabled
Joined in 2006
June 18, 2010, 21:59

far out hereiam 🙁 thats awful, that sticker is very much a hate sticker and the guy deserved being busted for it. Someone saying youre better off dead (which is what the sticker said )is far worse than someone preaching repent but thats just me.



JaydWoods
 
Joined in 2010
July 24, 2010, 11:49

From a strict political standpoint I believe no wrong was done. However from the cause standpoint and sticking to strict guns I believe the officer did some good. It makes people think strongly about what they say and when they say it. People should have some respect towards peaceful protest. I think it would have been more appropriate and legal, here I go contradicting myself again, if the statement against the group had been said in a separate protest in itself.



RaulG
 
Joined in 2010
July 24, 2010, 12:51

Dearest Ones,


It is certainly a difficult situation. However, in this case I feel I must side with Voltaire: I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.


Freedom of Speech includes the Freedom to be Offended, the Freedom to Counter-Argue, and the Freedom to Challenge Intellectually. Note that it is not the Freedom from being Offended. To silence someone is to step on all those hard fought freedoms.


Allow me to give you a personal example:


I (like many of my Christian brethren, I find) have engaged in counter-protests against the Westboro Baptist Church and it’s patriarch, Fred Phelps. If there is a single human being alive on the face of the Earth today which tests my restraint and my ability to forgive and make peace it is that man and his clan. Words cannot describe how much he angers me, how much he disappoints me.


He is the living embodiment of traits that I find most abominable: he warps and twists scripture to suit his own warped goals and yet is theologically ignorant. He perverts the Word and work of Christ and defames all of Christianity. He is arrogant, sadistic, cruel, and merciless. He is greedy and seeks to line his pockets at the expense of others.


I have faced this man in person. I have tried to reason with him. I have tried to reach out to the human soul locked away in that decaying monument to corruption he calls a body. Friends and family, I tell you this: there is something terribly, horribly wrong at work within that man. I am never so drained, so weary, so much in pain than when I face him. I daresay that if the Adversary can work through human puppets, than Fred Phelps is proof of this.


Yet, after all that. I would still not take away his freedom of speech. For if we use the law to silence those we disagree with, will not the day come when someone uses it to silence us?


When the Communists came to power in my motherland, they promised that unlike Batista, they would honor the people’s right to speak freely–so long as they did not do anything that threatened the revolution.


What happened? Religious groups were incarcerated and executed. Homosexuals were beaten, tortured, and killed. Poets, journalists, and other writers were slaughtered. Why? Because in putting that limitation on the people’s speech, Guevara, Castro, and the rest could define ANYTHING as being ‘inappropriate’ for the revolution and silence them.


Yours,


Raul



Ann Maree
 
Joined in 2008
July 24, 2010, 13:16

Hi Raul


Thanks for your well thought out points.


Yet, after all that. I would still not take away his freedom of speech. For if we use the law to silence those we disagree with, will not the day come when someone uses it to silence us?


This is particularly thought provoking.


It really twists at the heart though doesn’t it? And when it comes to dictators who continue in their destruction, to what degree do we allow them freedom of speech and action?


Blessings,


Ann Maree



RaulG
 
Joined in 2010
July 24, 2010, 22:35

Dear Ann,


Yes. I will not lie: it does indeed hurt to have people say such cruel things. It does indeed weigh heavily on my heart.


However, we must also remember Nietzsche’s warning:



“Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one”


Though one could say without hesitation, that when you seek to destroy someone else, that when your rights infringe on the rights of others, action must be taken, we must be wary.


For if we silence a man for praising Fascism, do we not then become the object of his adoration?


In silencing a man like Phelps, we give him a victory far greater than any military conquest: we destroy our own liberties and abandon our principles.


Yours in Christ,


Raul



deanmurphy
 
Joined in 2006
July 26, 2010, 21:39

He got his just deserts. I was taught if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all… pity the church tends not to follow that advice!



Ann Maree
 
Joined in 2008
July 28, 2010, 18:41

Hi deanmurphy


I haven’t ‘met’ you before. Welcome!! 🙂


Please feel free to share your story in the ‘Telling Our Stories’ section. We’d love to hear more from you and how you found us.


Blessings,


Ann Maree



Anthony Venn-Brown
 
Joined in 2005
July 28, 2010, 20:49

i just had a thought…..


would I stand on a street and preach against christians who are antigay……and quote scripture (and there are many of them) to prove my beliefs……I dont think so.


I would have to allow others the respect of having a different belief than mine…..going out on the public streets and decrying them would be in conflict of my personal values.


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