Battleangel

Free speech trumps defamation, hate crimes legislation, minority protection.

Guardian - Swedish Pastor to Stop Criticizing Gays - A Pentecostal pastor who denounced homosexuality as a “cancerous tumor” in a sermon said Tuesday he would stop preaching against gays after Sweden’s highest court acquitted him of hate speech.

The Supreme Court in Stockholm said Ake Green’s anti-gay sermon two years ago was protected by the freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights. The verdict ended a two-year legal battle that drew widespread attention in Sweden and abroad, pitting freedom of speech against the protection of minorities.

While this guy is a pile of putrid slime and religion ought to be opposed at every turn, I’d still like to retain the right to call Pentecostal pastors “cancerous tumors,” and worse, if I feel like it. In a theoretical turn for the worse, Green could have been found guilty, and next thing you know Pentecostalists could have claimed the same protection from defamation. Or similarly, Jewish groups would have another tool to invoke every time someone uttered insulting or “fighting” words aimed at Israel. It’s quite easy to come up with examples why this slippery slope is not desirable.