Any burning of any religious book is wrong, and killing people over is stupid... two wrongs dont make a right

Here's my take on this whole mess:

1. The pastor has the right to buy a book (any book) and burn it in America.
2. The pastor knew this act, if made known, would anger people around the world. He wanted this exact effect, which is why he filmed his act and put it on youtube (as opposed to taking the batteries out of his smoke detector in his bedroom and burning the book there, for example).
3. The people angered by this act took out their anger on the wrong people (assuming that their anger was about this book burning by this pastor; other threads have stated other possible reasons and that this is only an excuse).

Personally, I think this guy is a coward. If he had any courage, he would have went to the country in question and burned the book in the middle of the people's town square.

Then they could have taken their anger out on him directly, and all would be (semi-) right in the world.

America, when does a message of hate, ignorance and intolerance become freedom of speech?

It is time that the good people of your nation stood up and said enough is enough. Freedom of speech is nothing but a veil that cowards hide behind to commit terrible acts and get away with it. You gotta have some sort of boundaries.

Burning a book isn't against the law.

But if you do it you deserve everything you get, because your doing it full well knowing the anger and hatred your further causing.

Live free or die. thats all i have to say about that.

So long as no-one has a problem with me standing in Times Square and burning a pile of Bibles or copies of the Declaration of Independence or the US flag, then I suppose burning the Qu'ran must also be permissible?

This to me is a form of aggression towards anyone they mean to offend. This is in fact upsetting those that think that a book or anything else for that matter is going to demean or make their beliefs less relevant. When we can stand up for ourselves, and be less superficial, we can then move onto more pressing matters.

Peace, NRE.

I don't think what that idiot did was practicing his right to free speech. That is the same thing as yelling fire in a movie theater. What he did is a form of terrorism in it's self. He has personally killed people by doing what he did. It's not like he wasn't warned what would happen.

As far as the Muslims murdering people. Any reason to murder non believers in the name of their god is good enough for them. They should be held accountable. But The real murders are the nut jobs that used the technology and the video to incite the people that can't even read nor have internet access these Iran sponsored terrorists. They are just getting other nut jobs to do their dirty work. They need to be sought out and brought to justice. I'd love to see all three of them in the same cell.

You can burn the bible, your bra, the flag, your draft card, pee on the cross, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights.

But don't you DARE offend islam. As far as I'm concerned, when the topic has gotten to this point they have already won and sharia law is here. It's just a matter of time befor they make it official.

Frankly between this and the issue over drawing Mohammed, I'm surprised we haven't surrendered all ready.

I'm disgusted!

This is akin to me burning Darwin's Origin of Species and evolutionists across the world get angry and kill religious people.

It doesnt make sense, it is barbaric and you have to be a complete loon to kill innocent people because somebody burned a book.

Yeh he did it to try and get a reaction but seriously, these people decided to murder innocent people. Nothing permits that. It just shows me how fundamentaly backwards these extremists are (including the Christian ones).

I hope someone sues him and pushes this to the Supreme Court.

The court has already in the past said you can't use speech to incite a breach of peace, Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942).

The fact that the mock trial and burning was recorded and broadcast, shows that it was an attempt to incite a breach of peace.

Had he done it in private, as a personal act on his property, it would be protected under the law, but to have the whole mock trial and broadcast it on the internet. He knew exactly what he was doing and knew exactly what kind of reaction it would provoke.

If I were the families of those who were killed in response to his actions, I would sue him and his church