quote steven<<..gender segregated..only times at public swimming pools?>>..why not

<<public hospitals should be exempted from assisting with abortions if it offends their religious sensibilities?>>..of course

<<demand a biology curriculum that excludes evolution>>no...that being said im an evcolution deneyer...but kids should be taight both sides...and left to chose

<<Should Holocaust denial be illegal?>>...it pretty much allready is...but which holocaust denial...the 6 million jews/gypsies/homosexuals and mental deficients of ww2?..or read the bible..there have been thousands..[the longest lasting in recent times is the palistein one,..though the bolchovics murdering the 25 million xtians went on a while]

<<the route of a gay pride/march..the residents be able to insist that the march takes an alternative route?>>..not from main roads...but side streets/or past churches/mosques..of course..confrontation must be avoided

<<"piss Christ"?>>of course its a deliberate provocation

<<Muhammad cartoons be prohibited?>>.depends on what the point of the joke is...if designed to provoke/insult anyone..its offensive...m,uch like the chasers scene on make a wish

<<policemen be permitted to grow beards?..neatly trimmed...not obscuring their face...of course

<<female police trainee>>..no...touching any police is demed an assult
any other femail..its their free choice not to be manhandled

<<Muslim policewoman>>>..all cops follow the same rules...they must never hide thier face or id numbers..[ever]



<<Should there be laws..that ban remarks that followers of a religion find hurtful?..(Blasphemy laws)>>>let the court decide...if any remark offends report the offence...its not rocket science,if insulting to race its racial bias/racist designed to provoke race or sex or belief...its criminal offense

Foxy,

For once we seem to be in total agreement – in principle. I do have a pragmatic quibble.

Forcing a doctor to perform a procedure he abhors is probably not doing his patient much good. PURELY FOR THE SAKE OF THE PATIENTS I would be inclined to excuse doctors and nurses from performing or assisting with abortions if it offended their sensibilities.

Other than that we agree Foxy.

However a question. In a previous thread I discussed the case of Australia's most notorious Holocaust denier, Frederick Tobin. The Federal Court gagged him.

See:

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=2738

Back then you seemed to think that Holocaust deniers like Toben should be silenced. Have you changed your mind?

OUG

I am specifically referring to the Holocaust that resulted in the death of 6 million Jews during World War 2. I am well aware there have been other Holocausts.

Do you think denial of that particular Holocaust SHOULD be illegal? I am not asking you what is but what you think should be.

I have made my own position clear on many occasions. Anything except actual incitement to violence, narrowly defined, should be permitted.

steven you will recall recently buchanwald was in the news..recently..[our pope visited it apparently..papa obama...lol...anyhow there was some numbers quoted..on..one news/program..[though all of them covered it extensivly...lol]

anyhow there was lamenting about how 45,000 died there...including 13,000 jews...so thats slighly under one third..were jewish...im not sure if your hollocaust numbers include the non jews..[if so why not]..

but since the age of 18 i been grieving for the jews that were murded...but the more i find out..about the issue...the more confused i get

for a start there were capoes..in each prison block..[who picked out who died...often these were jews[the capoes]..beuckenwald was one of the most notorious of thousands of work camps

[but as previously said only a bit over 13 thousand jews died there...leaving 32 thousand goys..[non jews that died there..thaT NEVER RATE's A MENTION...

now ever german/city has its hollow-cost museum...so that the world is never allowed to forget...but what arnt they allowed to remember?..or even know of?

israel killing the palisteinians in their ghetto's.. or them getting bombed by the israel/rightwingers..stealiung ever more settlement land?..bombing palisteins with yanki cluster bombs..part of a multi trillion gift/aid..from usa..to israels murder of the indigenant population of the holy land..[judeans fled from thousands of years ago]

how is the life giver/god served by any death?

many black jews were actually driven out of the holy lands..when the bolchovic/northern/ jews took palistein/israel over

anyhow here is what i wrote at the last topic

Billionaire media mogul..[AND BILDERBERGER]..Rupert/Murdoch gave a strange response when asked about plans for mainstream news websites to charge for content,..declaring,“The current days of the internet will soon be over.”
http://www.prisonplanet.com/rupert-murdoch-internet-will-soon-be-over.html

Cyberbullying Bill
http://www.prisonplanet.com/cyberbullying-bill-not-about-protecting-kids-it-is-about-shutting-down-the-opposition.html

Rep.Linda Sánchez,is behind the so-called Megan Meier..Cyberbullying Prevention Act,...an effort to impose draconian regulations on the internet.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/david-rothschild-climate-change-ad.html
another bilderberger..lol
their plan is to shut down the web

The End of Free/Speech?..Criminalizing Criticism of Israel
http://www.prisonplanet.com/the-end-of-free-speech-criminalizing-criticism-of-israel.html

October/16,2004,President Bush signed the Israel Lobby’s bill,the Global Anti-Semitism/Review/Act....This legislation requires the US Department of State to monitor anti-semitism...world wide.

Why not just ask "what level of intolerance is permissible within a society that claims to be secular and how is that intolerance defined?"

Pied Piper,

Stevenlmeyer asked:
“Supposing the route of a gay pride march passes through a predominantly Christian or Muslim area. Should the residents be able to insist that the march takes an alternative route?”

And you responded:
“They should be outlawed completely”

Must say, I would not have picked you to have such an opinion–what is your rationale?

“How far should a secular multi-cultural society go to accommodate religious sensibilities?”

I think that is the wrong question to ask.

What really needs to be questioned is:

How far should religious sensibilities go to accommodate the secular multi-cultural society in which the exist?

The notions of exclusivity, entitlement and exemption, which permeates the teachings and beliefs of many religious sects and denominations has to defer to the civil and social rights of the majority who do not hold such views. This is particularly true of non-Christian values imported by a tiny ,minority of newer arrivals into, what would be called a predominantly notional (if not actual), Christian based society.