AlterNet website

Douglas Laycock laycockd at umich.edu
Fri Feb 9 18:32:42 PST 2007 


  Hedges was on the Colbert show tonight.  There are probably re-runs
for those who are interested but missed it.

  Quoting "Gibbens, Daniel G." <dgibbens at ou.edu>:

> Thanks, Eugene.  I am reminded of Holmes "[O]ur Constitution] is an

> experiment, as all life is an experiment. Every year if not every
day
> we have to wager our salvation upon some prophecy based upon 
> imperfect knowledge. While that experiment is part of our system I 
> think that we should be eternally vigilant against attempts to
check
> the expression of opinions that we loathe and believe to be fraught

> with death, unless they so imminently threaten immediate
interference
> with the lawful and pressing purposes of the law that an immediate 
> check is required to save the country."   My assumption (Hedges
would
> apparently declare it's naiveté) is that the condition "so
imminently
> threaten immediate interference" is far from being reached.
>
> Dan
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu 
> [mailto:religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Volokh, 
> Eugene
> Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 5:22 PM
> To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics
> Subject: RE: AlterNet website
>
>
>     The article is by Chris Hedges, a Nation Institute fellow and 
> former NPR and New York Times reporter; he is the author of a book
on
> this subject (American Fascists).  He also takes the view that "the

> radical Christian Right" should have its speech legally
restricted. 
> From the
> book:
>
>     "This is the awful paradox of tolerance. There arise moments
when
> those who would destroy the tolerance that makes an open society 
> possible should no longer be tolerated. They must be held
accountable
> by institutions that maintain the free exchange of ideas and
liberty.
>
>     "The radical Christian Right must be forced to include other 
> points of view to counter their hate talk in their own broadcasts, 
> watched by tens of millions of Americans. They must be denied the 
> right to demonize whole segments of American society, saying they
are
> manipulated by Satan and worthy only of conversion or eradication. 
> They must be made to treat their opponents with respect and 
> acknowledge the right of a fair hearing even as they exercise their

> own freedom to disagree with their opponents.
>
>     "Passivity in the face of the rise of the Christian Right 
> threatens the democratic state. And the movement has targeted the 
> last remaining obstacles to its systems of indoctrination, mounting
a
> fierce campaign to defeat hate-crime legislation, fearing the
courts
> could apply it to them as they spew hate talk over the radio, 
> television and Internet."
>
>     To clear up any ambiguity about whether he was calling for legal

> suppression ("denied the right to demonize") or just social
pressure,
> here's an excerpt from an NPR interview with Hedges:
>
>         JIM (Caller): Yes. Yes, I am. I needed to ask the author --
I mean,
> I myself am a Christian, but I wouldn't even somewhat agree with
Pat
> Roberts. But the author stating that you need to restrict someone's

> free speech just for mere words, he's advocating -- I mean, what
he's
> advocating is fascism, is he (unintelligible)? ...
>
>         Mr. HEDGES: I think that, you know, in a democratic
society, people
> don't have a right to preach the extermination of others, which has

> been a part of this movement of - certainly in terms of what should

> be done with homosexuals. You know, Rushdoony and others have
talked
> about 18 moral crimes for which people should be executed,
including
> apostasy, blasphemy, sodomy, and all - in order for an open society

> to function, it must function with a mutual respect, with a
respect...
>
>         JIM: Sure.
>
>         Mr. HEDGES: ...for other ways to be and other ways to
believe. And I
> think that the fringes of this movement have denied people that 
> respect, which is why they fight so hard against hate crimes 
> legislation
> -- such as exist in Canada -- being made law in the United States.
>
>         [NEAL] CONAN: But Chris, to be fair, aren't you talking
about
> violating their right to free speech, their right to religion as
laid
> out in the First Amendment?
>
>         Mr. HEDGES: Well, I think that when you preach -- or when
you call
> for the physical extermination of other people within the society, 
> you know, you've crossed the bounds of free speech. I mean, we're
not
> going to turn a cable channel over to the Ku Klux Klan. Yet the
kinds
> of things that are allowed to be spewed out over much of Christian 
> radio and television essentially preaches sedition. It preaches
civil
> war. It's not a difference of opinion. With that kind of rhetoric,
it
> becomes a fight for survival....
>
>     Eugene
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
>         From: religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu
> [mailto:religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Gibbens,
Daniel G.
>         Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 2:21 PM
>         To: Religionlaw at lists. ucla. edu
>         Subject: AlterNet website
>
>
>
>         On the recommendation of a friend, I just read an short
article on
> this website entitled "The Rise of Christian Fascism and Its Threat

> to American Democracy" posted today.  I'm curious about any views
on
> the credibility of this website, or for that matter, on this 
> particular article.
>
>         Dan Gibbens
>         University of Oklahoma College of Law
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> To post, send message to Religionlaw at lists.ucla.edu
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see 
> http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw[1]
>
> Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed
as
> private.  Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that
are
> posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can 
> (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
> _______________________________________________
> To post, send message to Religionlaw at lists.ucla.edu
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see 
> http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw[2]
>
> Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed
as
> private.  Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that
are
> posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can 
> (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
>
>
>

Douglas Laycock
Yale Kamisar Collegiate Professor of Law
University of Michigan Law School
625 S. State St.
Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1215
  734-647-9713


Links:
------
[1] 
https://web.mail.umich.edu/horde/services/go.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.ucla.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Freligionlaw
[2] 
https://web.mail.umich.edu/horde/services/go.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.ucla.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Freligionlaw

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.ucla.edu/pipermail/religionlaw/attachments/20070209/b774b0d5/attachment.html

More information about the Religionlaw mailing list