Justice Stephen Breyer: Is Burning Koran ‘Shouting Fire In A Crowded Theater?’

Liberal college profs have attacked, mocked, and outright blasphemed Christianity during lectures for the last 40 years. Everyone who went had to enduring their mockery, and would even get a lower score for lack of participation in the discourse. Now all of a sudden, these same professors want to protect the koran! I actually wish that I was taking classes again, because I would mess with them for leaving Islam alone. like . . . “would this same ‘fairy tail’ reasoning apply to islam as well?”. . . . . “what’s wrong prof, cat got your tongue?”

We already accept that harassing and threatening speech aren’t granted First Amendment protection. SCOTUS also decided that KKK cross burnings are not protected speech. Holy book burnings are deeply offensive to believers. But does it rise to the level of obscene, threatening, or inciteful speech? Kudos to Breyer for discussing the point.

Due to the fact that the media now sensationalizes these nuts, maybe new laws have to be enacted. One new law maybe against any media outlet that turns these crackpots into front page fodder.

So..is it time to admit Moslems have a disability and that they should be treated differently just like other ‘special’ groups in our society?

So what Justice Breyer is saying is that it’s ok to burn a bible because christians are not violent? And it’s ok to burn a flag because American’s do not threaten violence against those who do? But it’s not ok to burn a koran because muslims are violent? Do I have this correct? Just asking.

This illustrates the point well….we are a nation run by lawyers, which in my estimation is NOT a good thing…..

cml good question, but the answer is obvious. action-reaction. yell fire in a theater, reaction is possible stampede
burn a bible, reaction is.. nothing(not ssaying I like this byw) but christians as a whole are not going to start killing people who are from the same counntry as the idiot attention seeker who is doing the burning….
burn a koran, its understood the radical factions , and borderline moderates overseas who only see the sensationalized version of this moron pastor who didnt deserve 10 seconds of airtime, will almost CERTAINLY endanger american lives.. so there is your difference…
this pastor in my opinion, needed a “visit” from some gov agency… this BS has to stop, inciting these loose uslim cannons is the hieght of stupidity, possibly resulting in many unneccassary deaths…

Ask a judge something, and get a corrupt answer.
Our judicial system is in just as bad a condition as our Congress. The judiciary is totally corrupt, with no equity in sentences, between, for instance a celebrity, and a street corner black person. One will get a slap on the wrist for possession of drugs, while the other will get significant jail time.
The judiciary also is making decisions that are highly questionable, for many things, which are in effect creating injustice. 6 yrs. for murder, is hardly an appropriate sentence, especially when they are then released in 3 yrs.
Further, criminals who are given lengthy sentences are serving almost none of them. A criminal was just released, only 6 yrs. into a 40 yr. sentence.
No, the judiciary is no longer a protector of the public. They interpret the laws for their own benefit, not the public’s.

pauly, bibles and flags are burned on foreign soil as well and still we do not retaliate. I think my point is made. I understand that these are radical factions that are making threats, but the justice said that we need to rethink because burning a koran may insight violence. Should we all just roll over and become slaves, and watch bibles and flags be burned, or should we stand our ground. I don’t believe in the mistreatment of any religious item or any flag here or abroad. The pastor was wrong because it disrespects a religious item, not because it would cause violence. The violence is already here, Jones had a misguided reaction to it.

The important lesson that will be taken from this is that violence works…at least against liberals. That we will have our basic Rights modified to mollify violent, religious fanatics.
I really wish I understood the need for liberals to accommodate these monsters. Are they simply afraid? Or is it as simple as the enemy of my enemy is my friend?
Hell, I’d be satisfied if they treated Muslims as badly as they treat American Christians.
A teenager who wants to thank Jesus at a graduation ceremony? A teacher who wants to wear a crucifix around her neck? The Coming Theocracy. Actual violent, murdering religious fanatics?
Them we tip toe around so as not to startle them.
Unbelievable.

The comparisons are apples and oranges.
Shouting fire causes IMMEDIATE panic that can directly harm people. Burning a koran causes PLANNED retaliation. The muslims did not hold those protests the MOMENT the news got out. They talked about it, planned it, and executed it. The burden of guilt lies on THEM, not us. Regardless the right or wrong of the burning, the muslims had plenty of time to think about what they were doing, and they bear the guilt for making a poor choice – you can’t put that back on us.

“BS!!! …How about ya didn’t study hard enough and that is what really caused your lower score!!! …its all about accountability! Now… have a blessed day!”——————This blurb by a college porfessor is everything thats wrong with our colleges. Our college professors teach our children to hate the United States and its history, they teach children that christianity is wrong they teach children to be ashamed of our country. College is the biggest waste of money. Our education system prepares our kids to fail. They leave school with no real world skills or knowledge. Just look at our president.
_______
I don’t know what college you went to, but my college profs didn’t teach me to hate the U.S. Barack Obama was Editor of the Harvard Law Review, expert community organizer (make fun of that, it still takes skill to do), ran an expert campaign, was elected President, and got a good part of his agenda passed. Yeah, and he did it on his own without riding Daddy’s coattails. I’d say that shows a lot more real-world skills than somebody who obviously was a failure in college and blames the profs. Besides, who would you replace President Obama with? The Governor who quit after a half term? The drug-addled college dropout? The deranged blackboard artist who sobs? Conservative voices are EPIC fail in everything they do except for blame. People who fail always find some way to blame somebody else.

If someone burned my scripture, I’d feel anger and hurt in my heart, but if my God is true, the reaction they’ll get from Him is far worse than anything I could deliver, so I let God be the Judge, and I let God defend Himself, as He is more than capable! This goes for anyone of any faith.

We need to remember that we are a civil society. My brother-in-law is from Iran. I have met his family. They are very kind people. The first time my brother in-law met me he brought me flowers. My niece and nephew are raised to respect people. The muslims that I know respect our religion and our holidays such a christmas. I have a son serving in Iraq. He respects the people and knows my brother-in-law. I am worried for him because of what has happened here in the United States. People just need to educate themselves and stop being so ignorant.

“If someone burned my scripture, I’d feel anger and hurt in my heart,…”
I pretty much agree with you here except my feelings would not be of anger. My feelings would be very aggrieved mixed with overwhelming saddness that someone would do something so horrific. But, I would equally feel this way if someone burned/destroyed a Qu’ran, a Torah, or the Holy Bible.

What Justice Breyer proposes is an Anti-Blasphemy Law that protects only Islam. All it would take to outlaw criticism of Islam, would be for its most deranged and violent followers somewhere to riot – then our Court could cite that as proof that the insult, no matter how minor, is somehow outside the bounds of First Amendment protection.
Who’d have thought it: we have a Supreme Court that protects live sex shows as core free speech, but is willing to consider banning criticism of one particular religion as beyond the pale. So much for the Establishment Clause.

Shouting fire in a Theater and burning a book are two different things….unless you burn the book in a Theater.

with one religion pitted against the other, Bill O’Riley’s new book Pinheads & Patriots & the list goes on. What I see is division. I now turn the volume down when anyone starts talking politics on TV. It’s not about the good of mankind or our country. It’s about ‘our side is right & your side is wrong’. That is the problem…but watch out cause there is such thing as being too liberal also. What the answer is , I don’t know. I just know what the problem is. Barack seemed like he might be able to unite us (his speeches were grand) but the right wing has shot down everything he’s tried to do (division). The right wing is giving us nothing except division. If the right wing had a great mind/speaker like william f buckly they’d be ok. But all they have is Gingrich, Palin & O’Riley & Beck & all these people do is divide us. FOX NEWS is out to divide us. That is not patriotic at all. So O’Riley ,you would be listed as a pinhead because you surely aren’t a patriot. You’re a divider. America is killing itself & it’s not because of Socialism. It’s because of large egos. God help us all.

I find it astounding, the percentage of these posters who are obviously incapable of reasoning!

As long as Breyer is consistent and views burning the Holy Bible in the same way as burning the Koran–I’d have no problems. However, I am inclined to think that liberals will only apply the laws or their thwarted views of the Constitution to their views.

XYZ, so your conclusion is that it’s Fox and the repubs against MSNBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, NBC, and the Obama administration. Fair fight huh?
Again, your left wing has had full control of the house, senate, and the media. I hardly believe that it’s Fox and friends putting a stop to this disaster….. It’s the American people.

The power hungry Progressive/Lefties will interpret the law any way they want for their “advantage.”
Be prepared to defend you freedoms or they will be gone forever.

“but if my God is true”—- Considering it’s the same God, what is a God to do?

“but if my God is true, the reaction they’ll get from Him is far worse than anything I could deliver” —- Considering it’s the same Abrahamic God, I wonder what he is to do? ;)

Ozarkess posted: ****Liberal college profs have attacked, mocked, and outright blasphemed Christianity during lectures for the last 40 years. Everyone who went had to enduring their mockery…”**** So YOU believe that we should be REQUIRED to honor and respect and even hold sacred certain of YOUR beliefs. WELL! In response, I demand that YOU honor and respect SCIENCE and all it’s discoveries and findings, and stop mocking those discoveries, including those that show the BIBLE is a collection of human-created fairy tales. So there!

Our original forays into grasping our freedom of speech resulted in the most powerful army in the world sending its troops to our soil and fighting a bloody war. We call it the Revolutionary War. The exercise of our rights is never more critical than when others threaten us for trying to exercise them. If we bow down, even once, and allow others to dictate our behavior, we set a precedent that others will follow. “You have this right, until someone threatens us if you try to exercise that right, then we are taking it away.” That is nonsense and I think another poster on this board touched on the problem; people are afraid and lack the courage of their convictions. They only want freedom if it is freely given; they are not willing to sacrifice their false sense of security to ensure that we continue to enjoy our freedoms. Sad.

And burning the flag, which the court says is free speech is not controversial and inflames passions? What does the “internet age” have to do with the unalienable rights we were created with? How stupid that enhanced communications can overturn (in this man’s mind) our constitutional rights. I guess Sam Adams would be just too inflamatory in today’s age and would have to be gagged because his audience could potentially be quite large. Who knows what he might incite with his words. Maybe even revolution that would result in lots of death and destruction.

I think everyone should burn a Koran. It is just a book, a piece of paper. It is only special because Muslims have a firm belief that Allah and Mohammed are beyond criticism. Might as well throw some bibles and torahs on the flames also. It really amounts to nothing but flame, smoke, and ash.

Wow – I think the pastor who suggested that was 100% misguided, but…
the reactions have been even more illogical or even unconstitutional. (btw, I actually vote democrat in most elections – not a libertarian, or repub, just so you know where I’m coming from) Why would this be fire in a crowded theatre? If people are in danger of their lives, then yes. We are treating a religious belief (allah being blasphemed) above free speech. We can sit here and talk about whatever given to other religious groups in the past, blah blah, but the past is all “blah blah”. Let’s talk about right not and the future. We are abidcating the rights of Americans’ free speech based on the crazed acts of a fringe element of a religious group who threatens from afar… and has people here.
I never understood the first gulf war. Action in Afganistan made a little more sense, but why now shift gears and give “the enemy” (based on our previous war efforts is my definition), home ground in our country and shift our own citizens’ rights? Possibly the worst idea I’ve heard, and if this is going to be the direction of our politics, I’m regretting my previous vote for presidency.

Wake up, Americans.
Liberals are not our friends.
Vote for freedom by voting Democrats OUT.
ALL OF THEM.

Burning any book, like any flag, is protected free speech. This is truly terrifying to hear a Supreme Court justice say this publically.

When a Supreme Court starts to issue un-constitutional rulings based on their activism, it’s time to stop listening to them. Would he have said the same thing about Bible burning? And how about pornography? This guy is a leftist, activist judge. And as far as the two that the illegitimate Muslim President put on the bench. We look forward to removing them.

So it is not the act but how people react to it that results in something being a right….so if Conservatives start acting like muslims everytime a conservative idea or candidate is criticized then according to Byer it will soon be illegal Conservative ideas and candidates to be criticized.got it

Posted by: Big John | Sep 14, 2010 9:58:05 AM
I do not care about your college professors or who quit what and who won, answer the question, Is Burning Koran ‘Shouting Fire In A Crowded Theater?’
My answer is NO.

I believe the media are the ones
that “yelled fire” not the
paster of 30 people in Fl.
So now the Supreme court will attach
our free speech rights….????

Give me a break. It’s ludicrous for a Supreme Court Justice – even a loberal justice – to even begin to equate the quran burning with the likes of shouting Fire in a Theater.
What would that make flag burning in America — similar to planting a bomb in an airplane?

“All of a sudden” == valid language. Look it up.

Thanks to liberals, radical Islam is winning the clash of civilizations. Muslims aren’t the problem, liberals are the problem.

It’s perfectly all right to shout “Fire!” in the theater IF THE THEATER IS ON FIRE. In other words, it’s not the trampling of people caused by the shout that’s the problem, it’s the trampling of people caused by a knowingly false statement that’s the problem. Even if you merely believed the theater was on fire, you wouldn’t be wrong to shout “Fire!”
This case is completely different from that. Burning a Koran, Bible or copy of “Atlas Shrugged” is nothing but a political statement, and those are protected speech. What’s next — can’t get up and declaim for government healthcare because someone somewhere might get all bent out of shape and start a riot?
And this guy is a SC justice? God (or your deity of choice) help us all.

Breyer’s analogy is all wrong. Shouting fire in a crowded theater is going too far because people will panic, and in their effort to get away will likely trample one another to death. There is also no reason for it — the theater is not actually on fire.
Burning the Koran, however distasteful, is a political statement. It is among the highest forms of protected speech. Moreover, the violent reaction is caused by those OFFENDED by that speech, who then run towards the speaker and try to kill him (ironically, the very knee jerk violence that is being protested in the first place). That Breyer either can’t or won’t see the difference between the two is pretty terrifying for a Supreme Court Justice. Yet somehow I suspect that if a far left anarchist burned a U.S. flag and was stomped to death by enraged conservatives, Breyer would find flag burning to be the most amazingly awesome kind of free speech ever.
Remember, these are the same liberal Justices that through the Heller and Conn. Firefighter decisions have talked themselves into the position that private citizens can’t own guns to defend themselves, AND the first responders instead sent to help them don’t even need to be competent so long as they are diverse. We are 1 vote away from living in this terrifying liberal dream world where only the state is allowed to defend you, but then it refuses to at all times.

why do they allow flag and bible burning but question Quran burning?

Like shouting fire in a crowded theater? Why? Because someone might be offended? If I had a dollar for every time I was offended I’d be rich.

The message from Breyer is unless Christians become violent, as the Muslims, you will not have equal rights.
There are lots of guns in Christian America.
Okay, that can be accomplished.
Time to join a militia?? I am now much more open to that concept. But I hope the militias become much more violently oriented.
“When the people fear the government there is tyranny. When the government fears the people there is liberty.”
(Samuel Adams)

.
What is it that causes liberals to detest the Constitution so much?
Who can save us from Supreme Court Justices who put the KKKoran über alles?
I never thought that I would see the day that an AMERICAN Supreme Court Justice would ever hold the fascist KKKoran higher than our Constitutional rights!
The fact that he went PUBLIC with this is an open invitation to rogue lame duck session lawmakers and jihadists world-wide.
IMPLY AMAZING..
.

The Koran is an inanimate object of which millions of copy’s exist… only irrational simple people get upset over burning it.

This is asinine logic. I can’t believe the guy is actually a Supreme Court Justice.
In a crowded theater, shouting “fire” when there isn’t a fire means folks will trample over each as they succumb to their human INSTINCT to LIVE.
While he may have a point that the Internet is the new crowded theater, burning the Koran (or threatening to do so) in no way provokes an instinct in humans to save their lives and, thus, inadvertently kill others in a stampede.
No, the only law here that ought to be enforced is the one that says you may not riot or kill others just because someone has offended you.
What the heck is so difficult to understand about that.

If burning a Koran is akin to shouting fire in a cowrded theater, doesn’t that imply that there will be a violent reaction from Muslims if the koran is burned?

Is passing Obamacare against the will of the people “yelling fire in a theatre”?
Is building a mosque in the name of the “to the victor go the spoils” Cordoba mosque in Spain “yelling fire in a theatre”?
Is the Federal government’s refusal to enforce the border of my state, and then suing my state for trying to do what it can to enforce our border, “yelling fire in a theatre”? Because the drug and human smuggling trade, among other crimes committed by the resulting flood of illegals, have certainly led to the murders, robberies, and rapes of the legal citizens of my state.
Is a Supreme Court judgement for a legal right to end the life of millions of embryos/babies “yelling fire in a theatre” when there are so many in our country who believe abortion is equivalent to murder?
I could go on and on. Thanks for giving us so much to think about, Brewer.

Wow! The opinion has to be based on reason? How ludicrous. The opinion has to be based on the LAW!!!!!
These liberal judges are destroying this country. This is scary.

Breyer…

“Our college professors teach our children to hate the United States and its history, they teach children that christianity is wrong they teach children to be ashamed of our country.”
BALONEY! I don’t know what college you went to (if any), but that is not what happens at the college I am at. You obviously have no clue what you are talking about.

People have every reason to dislike the quran and every right to distroy or burn it ! We are not an islamic state and I pray we never will be.
However, what is really needed is to outlaw the quran based upon hate speech and incitement laws.
It is dangerous to those who are not muslim and i’m getting sick and tired of bush and obama lying to america saying ” we are not at war with islam.” Enough bull ~ Every !@#$% day islam attacks the USA.

The first five verses of Sura 9 explain 9/11 perfectly. As perfectly as Chapter 11 of the First Volume of Mein Kampf explains the Holocaust.

I don’t think Jones should have burnt the Korans. I wish he and his group had never brought it up.
But I do NOT think America needs to slide any further down that slippery slope of what is and isn’t OK to do or say.
Where would we be if the colonists had never fought against Britain?
Where would we be if Americans had never spoke out against slavery?
Where would we be if brave women had not demanded the right to vote?
Where would we be if civil rights protestors had never protested?
All of those were inflammatory. All of those caused danger and harm. But the results….were magnificent.
What is being considered is changing the very fabric of one of this country’s greatest freedoms. The right to speak out against what one believes to be wrong…….even if it’s not popular, not what the majority wants or thinks.
With each freedom we allow to be changed is the groundwork for the next change and the next and the next.
Many brave men and women since America was a British colony have fought and died to defend our freedoms. How can we dishonor their service and sacrifices because we are afraid of what others may do?

Justice Breyer professes a great faith in international law and believes that, as members in an international society, we should incorporate such law into our own. Nice, why don’t we just put up a friggin’ sign that says, ‘America, under New Management’. Thirty plus years of insults to this nation from Islam and this fairy thinks we’re being too harsh, the idiot. I truly fear for the species.

It once was ‘Give me liberty or give me death!’
Now: ‘Give me the right to speak, unless you are going to get mad.’

“SCOTUS also decided that KKK cross burnings are not protected speech,”
Uh, wrong. Perhaps you should look up the Supreme Court precedent. The Court struck down prohibitions on Cross burning in Virgina and Minnesota. And it is absurd to put forth the notion that burning a Koran is not protected speech because it offends Muslims. Yeah, so did the Muhammaed Cartoons. So do any depictions of Muhammed. Should those then be illegal. Should Islamic Jokes be made illgal? When someone burns the American flag, it offends me. But causing offense is not sufficient to outlaw it, thank God.

Big John, so tell me, what were Obama’s grades? His SAT scores?
Affirmative Action empty suit

Big John: Hey, who would I prefer over Obama? ANYBODY!
You must be a … “progressive”.

The judge is confused. Shouting Fire in a theatre causes people to panic FOR THEIR LIVES and try to ESCAPE. This rush for self preservation in face of eminent personal danger causes trampling. That there WAS no fire, makes the WARNING to be false and it becomes a proximate cause to the harm.
In the case of an ICON that is desecrated or destroyed, it is NOT a physical threat to anyone, it is an expression of contempt and disrespect, but no one should be EXPECTED of NORMAL intelligence or maturity to FEAR FOR THEIR LIVES if the flames are not extinguished. They are not even NEAR the fire or destruction.
This merely gives support to OUTLANDISH and UNCIVILIZED REACTIONARY violence…like blaming the JURY at the Rodney King Trial of the Policement CAUSED the damage and looting riots of Los Angeles. The RIOTS were CAUSED by the actions of OUTLANDISH and UNCIVILIZED persons who were not threatened AT ALL by the Jury verdict.
This Judge is severely confused and wrong.
While it may not be nice, neither is burning the American Flag…but doing so requires one to believe that MOST MATURE and RATIONAL AMERICANS will not take up guns or riot or kill people over the mere act of destroying our national icon.
The RISK is not the SAME as PROXIMATE CAUSE. The cause is radicalization and personalization of the act of destruction by particular zealots who are willing to commit acts of extreme violence for a mere insulting act.
The Muslims, if they are unable to contain their anger, do not deserve protection nor consideration for acts not threatening their safety or lives.

First, Holmes didn’t say you can’t shout ‘fire’ in a crowded theater. Holmes said you can’t *falsely* shout ‘fire’ in a crowded theater, which is somewhat crucial distinction, and the fact that Breyer either ignores or forgets it doesn’t speak well of his competence to evaluate the First Amendment.
Second, Holmes’s opinion in that case wasn’t a ruling that you can’t shout ‘fire’ in a crowded theater. It was a ruling that you can’t hand out pamphlets opposing the draft. So, Frankly, Holmes’s opinion on the First Amendment is utterly worthless. Is Breyer really endorsing a standard of free speech that says you can’t speak out in opposition to the draft?

The supreme court justice should be held accountable to the US citizens and explain himself for suggesting that we undermine our most important constitutional right: the 1st amendment. The first amendment is what most differentiates America from other countries. This justice is drawing the weakest of parallels between “causing panic in a theater, deliberately or otherwise” and “making a point by burning a Koran that most Americans simply don’t like Islam from what they’ve seen so far”. The closer parallel, is someone yelling, “This movie sucks” and having certain audience members respond to the individual with death threats. No panic is caused by saying one’s opinion, the panic is caused by the REACTION of certain “theater patrons” threatening the the individual’s life. And if we’re mistaken, so be it, we are not intentionally causing panic, in fact, we are warning other Americans about the dangerous pitfalls of this religion by bringing attention it. Until Muslims show actions to the contrary, I will continue to let the actions of Muslims speak for themselves, whether it be the continued silence of the “moderates” and their insistence that we respect their religion or the violence of the fundamentalists.

Would brandishing a baton by a New Black Panther, dressed in all black military garb, outside of a voter poling place, then also be potential for inciting a riot and mayhem… Clearly the Attorney General of the US does not think so.
Justice is being extremely subjective in defining WHAT CONSTITUTES A THREAT OF DANGER and what is merely a stunt.
Maybe lawyers are overeducated with law, and undereducated with common sense.

I don’t believe that Holmes’s dictum in Schenck–dealing with a false claim of fire in a crowded theater–has any application to this situation. In this country, one does not lose the right to free speech simply because others may retaliate and commit crimes because they are offended by his speech. I know that Justice Breyer was just raising the question, not answering it. However, I find very troubling his expression of doubt about the free speech principle at stake in this situation.

So if we start attacking those who burn the Bible, the Talmud, the Veda, the Upanishads, the Tao-te-ching, The Analects, Dianetics, and the American Flag will that be enough to get protected status for these activities in addition to protecting the Koran?

Why should we have to give up our rights because some backwoods cavement in the desert find it offensive…this is scared of the bullies plain and simple

I think good Americans all over the Country should burn a koran or a bible or any other book and post it on youtube everyweek just because we can…we can’t have our rights dictated by a violent overeacting primitive cavemen in a backward culture in the middle east

Burning a koran is nothing like shouting fire in a theatre. How incredibly stupid.

Zero comparison.
Fire in a theatre, is a real and present danger, if the statement is true.
There is zero real and present danger, from the burning of any book. It is symbolism, and that’s all. The fact that Islamists get violent over it, is NOT a reasonable expectation!

Breyer makes a perfect example of inductive reasoning, and how it can lead to false conclusions.
Cases to briefs to argument to opinions do not equal fact nor truth.
It is like saying all cats I have seen are yellow, therefore all cats are yellow. If the truth/facts are not in the cases, then you cannot come to correct conclusion.
Sadly Breyer has made a career out of this.

Most excellent, this acadamian writes his book with a telling title. If only he understood the difference between a Democracy and a Representative Republic.

If the pastor had only placed the Quran in a jar of urine, he could have received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, been acclaimed a sensitive and prescient artist, and received the accolades of all the adoring Left. He missed his opportunity.
European countries generally limit speech and restrict that which may be offensive. Of course, often this will lead to outlawing critical speech that brings the government into disrepute, it being offensive to those who support the Govt and who can argue that the world would not be a better place without any criticism, although a bit delusional utopian. Maybe Breyer doesn’t have enough to do in his current job and he feels a need to look for new avenues for employment in permitting the S.Ct. to control the thoughts and speech of all. Controlling the world does seem to have Harvard written all over it.

So will flag burning now become illegal again, since it is deeply offensive and deliberately incites violence?
How about the Westboro Baptist Church picketing soldiers’ funerals – it is deliberately designed to provoke a violent response. Will that be outlawed?
How about bible burnings, which have also occured in the past
How about building a mosque at the edge of the rubble from the 9/11 attack – clearly this has provoked outcry. Or do we say that only words that provoke violence are bad, but that actions which may provoke violence are OK?
Where is the line drawn, once this Justice’s foolish reasoning is used?

We forget a lot of things sometimes.
We forget the Muslim deaths in the twin towers. We forget the Muslim loss of civilian life since the start of this. We forget that the Muslim world had been progressive and a major contributor to math and science and art and philosophy for hundreds of years. Muslims were considered the most accepting and hospitable hosts and lead the way in intercultural discourse–until the reins of their culture and faith were siezed by their religious right.
Things went sideways for them when radical interpretations of their faith became mainstream and their right-wing kooks took control.
Digest that for a while.
It means something to the rest of us.

You know what else the Muslims want to riot over? Cartoons of Mohammed. Does Justice Breyer really want to give up our freedom of speech just because a group of poeple want to kill us for having it? Guess what – that’s what World War II was about also. Would Breyer pre-emptively surrender to the Nazis?

This is disturbing logic, especially from lawyers and judges. The burning of religious or political symbols is not dangerous in itself, so not comparable to yelling “fire” and stampeding people. Because one or all decide to respond to stimulous of any kind in a violent manner (stimulous that is not violent in and of itself)is on the responder. The fact that this hyper educated but intellecutally dishonest elitist administration and the progressives that support it find it all so confusing and difficult is the problem. We have given in to the drama queens of the world.

The left begins to bare their teeth. Next up, criticizing Obama will be “yelling fire in a theater.”

What would happen if you froze the koran, cut it up into small pieces, put the koran next to and in between playboy magazines, put the koran in water, in soup, in the oven, what would the Moslems do ? Cut off Daniel Pearl head, stone a woman, How many people would they kill ?

I dont need a judge to tell me my rights.
Burn it if you want.

Obscene pornography is protected by the first amendment. Women degraded and treated like things, twisted and used in disgusting ways for no purpose other that to satisfy sick desires is actually protected. But, when this good and decent Pastor tries to talk truth to Power, the Government, who let in droves of muslims to that we can be a beautiful mosaic dystopia, that is banned speech. Beyer is a fool and this government is a joke. Not because Obama is the president, but, because they have no idea what the constitution is truly about, like the Bible, Jewish or Christian. It is too subtle and spiritual for their dead souls to grasp.

I guess we should stop making movies then. Since there are a few crazy people who either take the message of the movie too literally or make up their own meaning and end up hurting people. The Muslim terrorist don’t need anymore excuses to attack us – they have the biggest one of all. We are not Muslims and are not ruled by Muslim law so therefore we must die.

It is my opinion that Breyer is a Marxist pervert.

Here comes the nanny state.

This so-called pastor is the most disgraceful and uneducated Christians on earth. He’s too stupid to realize that Muslims respect and value Christianity which is in fact the closest to its core of ethics. We Muslims view Christians as our brothers (this is show in “The Messenger”the story of the beginning of Islam). Its extremely shameful and unamerican for any of us in the US to even speak of burning a religious book of any nature of any society.

It wasn’t the threat to burn the koran that was like shouting fire – as bad a drama that would be the shouts of reporters and so called jounalists was the incendiary shout of fire – had there been no shouting maybe a 199 people would have witnessed a bad scene but we would not have 18 deaths from riots half way around the world because of the media shouting fire.

To Ricky. If you admire so much Barak Hussein Obama, may be you can tell me how he managed to to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year. Or may be you can tell him how many states in the US where Mr. Obama is president, or may be you can ask him why all records about him are sealed? Or may be you can tell us what his tsars are doing bypassing legitimate government? Or may be you can tell him that Robert Gates and Bill Gates are two different people? And tell which concentration camp liberated his grandpa if he was not in Soviet Army. Or may be you tell us how many servants Michelle has and why? I can continue with this list of questions.
You Ricky want to live blinded – it’s up to you. You’ve got your change, haven’t you?

I am a Christian living in a Islamic country and I can tell you that they are not peaceful at all.
Everyday we are being harassed. They can do things to us and yet we are not allowed even to complain.
They can even kill Christians and get away with it – and it has happened in countries like Pakistan and Indonesia.
So America, please stand up for your right as proud Christians. Stop them from having that Ground Zero mosque or they will do to you what they have been doing to us for centuries.

“Conservative voices are EPIC fail in everything they do except for blame. People who fail always find some way to blame somebody else.”
Ricky, does this mean that you are conceding that Obama is an EPIC failure since all he’s done since he’s been in office is “blame” Bush? Just wondering if you genuinely believe that what is good for the goose is good for the gander or is this another typical liberal double standard?

So burning the US flag is protected, burning the Bible is protected, and making a painting of Jesus out of animal dung is protected (about a decade ago, I think it was displayed in the Met). But don’t offend the crazies by burning the quran!
Well, I remembered 9/11 by burning a bunch of qurans myself, and I let my dog do some very bad things to them as well. Am I about to be arrested?

New Rule:
All omniscient, omnipotent beings are hereto-forth DIRECTLY responsible for the protection of their representative magical tomes. That way those pesky folks who burn in private won’t be able to get away with it, and the public statement made by a deity stopping even ONE person from burning would certainly make the strongest possible statement to others.
All options are on the table, including lightning bolts & spontaneous human combustion. Lack of intervention in any way, shape, or form, implies consent.
(No quibbling over the fact that the gods of the 3 Abrahamic religions are actually the same- it confuses the feebs).

You can yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater if the theater is indeed on fire. In fact, you have an obligation to yell “Fire!” in that case. If there’s anything worth burning, its Breyer’s law school diploma. Wouldn’t it be great that just once, a Muslim radical woudl have to go around with a bodyguard and have high level politicians tell him to stifle.

Another day that should live in infamy. We have a Supreme Court Justice who cannot comprehend a simple document limiting government powers.
I don’t agree with burning anyone’s holy book. But the minute you give an inch on the right protected by the Constitution, you flirt with a far greater danger than an extremist pastor drawing a line in the sand with extremist nuts from another faith.

First of all, Justice Breyer shouldn’t be commenting on issues that will likely be the subject of future court cases. Secondly, no, burning the Koran is not analogous to shouting “fire” in a crowded theater. With the latter, your speech harms people by leading them to take action based on false pretenses. When you burn a Koran, the only way your speech harms people is if those who don’t like it retaliate with violence. As Breyer certainly knows, Supreme Court precedent has long held that it will not recognize the so-called “heckler’s veto” – the ability of those offended by the speech to suppress it by threatening violent reaction if the speech is not stopped.

Justice Breyer is advocating the limitation of our First Amendment right by deeming the Internet a crowded theater. What a dangerous precedent, especially coming from a Justice on the Supreme Court.

““It will be answered over time in a series of cases which force people to think carefully. That’s the virtue of cases,” Breyer told me. “And not just cases. Cases produce briefs, briefs produce thought. Arguments are made. The judges sit back and think. And most importantly, when they decide, they have to write an opinion, and that opinion has to be based on reason. It isn’t a fake.”
What a crock Beyer. The 2 situations are NOT synonymous. One is exercising free speech. There are no laws against burning a book because of it’s content. The other is technically a criminal violation (misdemeanor in most states) because it is, in essence, the same as filing a false police report (perjury) or pulling a fire alarm on purpose.
Unless the average American starts LOUDLY decrying this vile movement, the liberals will keep finding ways to muzzle Christians and conservatives. It is the goal of the Marxist to shut us all up. It is the goal of Islam to overthrow our government. Fight it or lose our country to terrorists.

I’m burning the tax code, bible, koran, and anything else I can think of…a jimmy buffet album too. To express my indiscriminate contempt for stupid.

What the 1st amendment says: “Congress shall make no law… prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech…”
What Justice Breyer reads: “”Congress shall make no law… prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech…unless it angers violent religious fascists.”
I take this to mean that if Christians start rioting when someone desecrates a Bible, then that will stop being free speech too.
Moral relativism and inequality of rights based on multiculti sophistry is what complacent cowards in Western leadership roles do in lieu of actually protecting freedom.

These responses are so hilarious. It is clearly based on your political beliefs. It would be great if we weren’t stuck with team mentalities. I laugh when I see people so fiercely defend beliefs without the ability to actually see the other perspective. None of you have the power to change anything. Get used to it. If you could you wouldn’t be complaining here.
The government is too large to stop now, democracy is gone and we are left with fascism. Both parties are corrupt and take turns taking your freedom. All you have left is rants on web boards. Have fun topping the other imaginary persons posting.

If you can burn the US flag you can burn a Koran. Just because some uneducated nut cases living under a rock kill each other over it doesn’t mean a thing.

Justice Breyer is a fool. Not an idiot, which is someone too inherently stupid to know better. To be a proper fool, you need to have the capacity for wisdom, but be too arrogant to recognize you lack it.
The reason it’s illegal to shout “Fire” in an empty theater, is that running (dangerously) for the exits is a rational response in that situation. It is not a rational response, when someone burns ink and paper, to become violent.

The “fire in a crowded theater” doctrine was never honest – it was used to put a man in prison for opposing the draft, a decision which even the Supreme Court later recognized to be unconstitutional.
But applying it here is even worse. Because if risk of terrorism trumps freedom of speech, then that means that it is not the Constitution but the terrorists who are the highest law of the land. It means that the Supreme Court justices sit on a low throne in the shadow of Osama bin Laden.
Our freedom is not a liability, but it is a shield. We should let the protesting Muslims know that here in America people are free to burn the Bible, and the American flag, and blaspheme every religion, and picket the funerals of fallen hero soldiers, and there is nothing the law can do about it. Our country has borne these indignities placidly in preparation for just such a day as today – when it is necessary to show the world that our devotion to freedom of expression should be absolute.

OMG Would Justice Beyer even ban the photo-shopping some flame on-top of the Koran? What is next a comic of Allah would be banned? I wonder what Beyer will say when a nuke goes off and Muslims are responsible?

burning scripture is unethical whether Muslim or Not,,, People willget angr!!! may this proff. is not huuman being or he is not believing GOD>>.

I don’t know what college you went to, but my college profs didn’t teach me to hate the U.S. Barack Obama was Editor of the Harvard Law Review, expert community organizer (make fun of that, it still takes skill to do), ran an expert campaign, was elected President, and got a good part of his agenda passed. Yeah, and he did it on his own without riding Daddy’s coattails. I’d say that shows a lot more real-world skills than somebody who obviously was a failure in college and blames the profs. Besides, who would you replace President Obama with? The Governor who quit after a half term? The drug-addled college dropout? The deranged blackboard artist who sobs? Conservative voices are EPIC fail in everything they do except for blame. People who fail always find some way to blame somebody else.
Big John,
What did he do as the editor? Anything you can find?
“Expert” Community Organizaer? What did he do EXPERTLY?
Didn’t even complete a term as a Senator, but qualified to be a president?
Name some accomplishments he “PROMISED” he would do?
Transparant Government……uh…yeah ok. Everything on CSPAN? Yeah ok. Health care….you will see it happening, no more hiding info….uh not so much.
GITMO still Open………
In one year trippled the national debt…..but he was all about resolving the debt….
But, enough about the POTUS.
This was about the Koran, and burning or not buring. My issue is why did the moron preacher have to even announce it if he wasn’t trying to get publicity. I could burn one in my back yard tonight, and if that makes me happy then no one would wiser.
So I think the whole thing was BS and was just an attention getter.

Question: Why are you posting a misleading snapshot of what Breyer actually meant? Do you deliberately mean to create controversy where there is none? Isn’t there enough misguided and inaccurate discussion of issues around already? Do you really need to create a controversy where it is clear that Breyer is simply saying that Schenck v. United States sets one edge of the debate, and United States v. Eichman sets the other?

I dont have any problem with anyone exercising there 1st amendment rights. I think people that burn books are the lowest from of scum nazis there is but there you have it. But what I do find funny is the christains saying Islam is based on violence and that the muslims commit terrible acts of violence. The pot calling the kettle black concidering that the christians murdered millions during the crusades they murdered millions during the spanish inqusition they mudered millions during the pagan witch trials in europe, they murdered millions in germany during the holocast, they attempted to commit genocide in bosnia, also the christains in the US enslaved an entire race of people and is the only country in history to ever use a atomic bomb on civilians not once but twice. The christains have no room to talk about other peoples religins being violent since the christians are responsible for more murders in the name of god than any other group in the history of the world

Well if any god is styrong enough to punish someone that burys or burns a bible, then so be it. But, i’ll bet nobody dies if you do it. Religion is a man made entity, and you won;t die if you burn a book, and I doubt any god will risew up and kill anyone. Human kill people which is premediated murder, not god reacting. Muslims rteact over anything a cleric tells them to do, Common sense isn;t part of the muslim culture, while they murder in the name of the koran.

So the constitutionality of a controversial act hinges on how psychotic and dangerous the offended parties happen to be? Whose rights are we concerned about here?

Why should Christianity be mocked? Have you no respect for other people’s faiths and beliefs? Do you have no respect for your forefathers faith and beliefs? America and Canada are based on the Christian faith and belief. God and Christian principles are the very foundation of our free and democratic nations. Our Constitutions and Charter Rights and Freedoms are based on Christian principles and morals. Should we trust some intellectual liberal-lefist or liberal-fascist with setting our morals and principles? What rubbish to trust the Marxists and fascists in the western world with our cherished freedoms. Lenin, Stalin and Hitler destroyed sense and reason in politics. Why would we want to bring back such tyrants to rule over us, let alone let Islam and the Qur’an triump because of quisling politicians with no sense or reason.

At this time it looks like Movable Type is the best blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?