Four Americans are dead after a Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The attack was rumored to be a violent response to an anti-Muslim film put together by U.S. resident, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. Recently, evidence has surfaced saying otherwise. International protests continue and the Organization of Islamic Corporation has asked the U.N. to ban speech insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
I was recently involved in a class discussion that focused on analyzing whether or not the U.S. government should ban blasphemous speech in an effort to prevent further violent response to the anti-Muslim film, “Innocence of Muslims?”
I was shocked to hear that many of my peers agreed with enacting legislation that would ban blasphemous speech.
The argument was made that, in order to prevent further violence, we should appease the Organization of Islamic Corporation and enact blasphemy laws because bashing another religion wasn’t doing anything positive for the community anyway. What I heard was, ‘we should begin to restrict the freedoms of all American citizens because of the violent reaction to the opinions of one man.’ This restriction would be an infringement on the constitutionally protected freedom of speech.
It is also important to remember that when the government makes hasty decisions regarding our constitutional freedoms, out of fear, wonderful pieces of legislation like the Patriot Act come into existence.
The U.S. symbolizes freedom and democracy. If we begin to restrict our freedoms because on the disapproval and pressure of others, we begin to compromise the very foundation upon which we were founded. Thankfully the U.S. government continues to oppose a ban on blasphemy.
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