05-22-2012, 10:36 PM
(05-22-2012, 08:37 PM)aussiefriend Wrote: If these organisations are to operate in a civilised society, they need to be accountable that they are not inciting violence against minority groups by their language and tone of their speeches. Moreover, these 'leaders' need to be accountable to the law just as any ordinary citizen is within it's community. Having a pulpit in front of you does not give you licence to vilify any individual whatsoever under any circumstances. Throw the book at him.
To the extent that they're getting some government funding, I agree that there should be some separation of church and state. Off hand, I think in the U.S., religions aren't allowed to endorse candidates or some such or they risk losing their tax exempt status (not certain of the details of that and too lazy to look it up right now).
Everything else though falls under free speech IMO. As distasteful as some speech may be, I don't want to live in a society where it's illegal to state your ugly opinions.