Okay, there’s still too many drawbacks to Sweden for me to want to move there, but at least there’s
A piece back, a Swedish pastor of a Pentecostal church made inflammatory remarks about homosexuals (among other things, he called them a cancer on society) and got slapped with Sweden’s hate-crimes law.
I would distance myself very far from the language the pastor used. It does not treat persons with homosexual temptations with the respect and compassion they deserve.
I do, however, (a) value freedom of speech–even offensive speech, (b) value freedom of religion, and (c) oppose hate crimes legislation as counterproductive and a cause of balkanizing harm to society by its special protection of some classes and not others (i.e., it’s a violation of equal justice under law).
Therefore, I am heartened to learn, though, that an appeals court overturned the conviction. It may get reinstated by the Swedish supreme court, but it’s still a hopeful sign.
(Cowboy hat tip to the reader who sent this in!)
NOTE: Two points to whoever can identify the two commedians the title of this post references!
Bob Hope, for one?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059298/
That’s one, so one point to you.
Who’s commedian #2?
Who is… Mike Myers?
And the second point goes to Tim J!
I heard something over the radio today which noted that a speaker at a Christian broadcasters’ convention claimed that a move to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine would adversely affect Christian radio as we know it. From what I heard, the speaker’s claims were based on two items:
Frankly, it sounded to me like inflammatory talk, and actually in my view the Fairness Doctrine might have some benefits. For example, it’s no secret that many Christian broadcasters also follow a conservative political agenda. In my view, it would be valuable to take a broadcaster advancing conservative political views, and grant a few opposing minutes to a Christian liberal.
Of course, I also believe that the church would benefit by having its tax-exempt status removed, but that’s just me…