Excerpt from The United States’ Unwritten Blasphemy Laws By: Brandon McGinley
In the United States, it’s more risky to offend the LGBT lobby than to provoke Muslims with what they consider blasphemy.
…Any enthusiasm we might have about America’s culture of free expression in the wake of Charlie Hebdo should be tempered by the relative silence of the free-speech brigade about controversies where speaking out carries real risk. Tweeting a hashtag in support of murdered cartoonists is costless. Almost everyone agrees the killing was wrong, and there’s no way the Islamists are going to track down Mr. #JeSuisCharlie from Paducah, Kentucky. You can cancel your ADT Security subscription.
But what about when standing up for a culture of free expression carries the risk of a loss of social or professional standing? What about when the fire chief of Atlanta, Georgia, was fired for expressing boilerplate Christian disapproval of homosexual acts in a book he published? What about when Brendan Eich was forced out at Mozilla for donating to Proposition 8? What about when Bret Baier and Gary Sinise were harangued for agreeing to appear at a run-of-the-mill Catholic gala until they canceled?
…I’m not saying that LGBT activism is worse that Islamic terrorism. I am saying that to support a robust right to speech perceived to be offensive to LGBT people carries greater risk for the average American than to support a robust right to speech perceived to be offensive to Muslims—or really any religious group.
When a people is as risk-averse in political posturing as we are, the movement most willing to exact a personal price for opposition will win….
Full article: thefederalist.com/2015/01/26/the-united-states-unwritten-blasphemy-laws/
