I am intolerant of BLTs. Am I a bigot? I am lactose intolerant. Am I a bigot?
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Uh… duuuuuuh. Thank you for that, Captain Obvious.
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Bigots of the world, unite, so that there can be peace and harmony in the whole world!

Brutus, please step back and take a chill pill. I don’t know why people disagreeing with you on this topic has you this upset that you need to respond to every single person with increasingly sarcastic and pointless remarks. It doesn’t further meaningful conversation.

Maybe you’re upset at people calling you a bigot. Well, join the club (of which Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown are members). Either way, if you are so sure you are correct, and so sure you are NOT a bigot, then you will feel confident enough to cease insisting as such. Because you aren’t going to convince anybody who opposes you here, just as nobody is going to convince you. So just save your energy and go lobby congress about placing a religious test on immigrants or something, as Richard Rush and Bryan Fischer have advocated. Talk is cheap.

Something’s got a very special hold on you with this subject matter and I don’t know what that is. Nor do I really care, frankly. But it must be something big and terrible.

Ok, everyone can resume their bickering. I’m out.

Think of Amsterdam, once a tolerant gay Mecca (no pun intended), now gay people have to fear for their lives, because of the influx of Islamic immigrants.

While I believe the U.S. should severely restrict the immigration of Muslims, the U.S. must also assure that Muslims who are U.S. citizen (or who are otherwise here legally) receive all the rights and protections accorded by the constitution, including the right to build mosques. Bryan Fischer needs to have his nose rubbed in the fact that “freedom of religion” in the U.S. applies to everyone. But, as an aside, I suspect that a mosque full of average Muslims would make the American Family Association look like Liberals.

Some people need to read definitions they look up before they post them here, to see whether they are actually applicable to the case at hand.

“If you are intolerant of Islam and/or Muslims, you are a bigot.”

If you are intolerant of conservatism and/or conservatives, you are a bigot.

“If you are intolerant of BGLTs, you are a bigot.”

I am intolerant of BLTs. Am I a bigot? I am lactose intolerant. Am I a bigot?

By the way, you don’t define intolerance. What is intolerance of an ideology, like conservatism or Islam?

“However, the right to free speech does not include the right not to be counter-criticized, and it does not mean you cannot have your ideas called out as bigotry if they are.”

Uh… duuuuuuh. Thank you for that, Captain Obvious. By the way, according to your own reasoning, people who are intolerant of bigots are also bigots. I guess everyone is a bigot! Bigots of the world, unite, so that there can be peace and harmony in the whole world!

This is not the fringe. This is becoming mainstream, First Amendment be damned. Gingrich is actually urging our nation to emulate Saudi Arabia. Each and every one of us should be outraged by that suggestion. But I suspect instead that Gingrich will end up getting a lot of votes when he runs for President in 2012.

I think that has the potential to hurt him with a lot of actively religious folk. They may not like Islam or the Moslems, but they aren’t too fond of the idea of churches being banned.

Bigot: noun
: a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially
: one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance

If you are intolerant of Islam and/or Muslims, you are a bigot.
If you are intolerant of Christianity and/or Christians, you are a bigot.
If you are intolerant of BGLTs, you are a bigot.

Is is possible to criticize something/someone without being a bigot? Certainly.

When does criticism cross the line into bigotry? I think an obvious example is what Tim pointed out in the Original Post with Bryan Fischer’s remark that Muslims should not be allowed the 1st Amendment rights to freedom of religion and freedom of association.

Do bigots have the right to voice their bigotry? Sure, they have the same rights to free speech as anyone else.

However, the right to free speech does not include the right not to be counter-criticized, and it does not mean you cannot have your ideas called out as bigotry if they are. As the saying goes, it’s not libel if it’s true.

Is all bigotry wrong? I would point out that most people believe that child molestation is wrong, and that being intolerant of child molestation and child molesters, is universally considered morally sound, is also by definition, bigotry.

That does not surprise me. However, there seems to be a definite correlation between Islam and intolerance. Intolerance of other religions, of sexual orientation and of women’s rights. All countries that allow gay marriage are at least (nominally) majority Christian. Very few Christian countries criminalize homosexuality, whereas only two (Indonesia and Turkey) Islamic countries do not criminalize it, and all seven countries that punish homosexuality with death are Islamic countries. Islamic minorities in Europe are almost uniquely intolerant of homosexuality. Think of Amsterdam, once a tolerant gay Mecca (no pun intended), now gay people have to fear for their lives, because of the influx of Islamic immigrants.

“And count me as one who both understood why certain muslims were offended, but totally agreed the cartoonists had a right to express themselves.”

Good to know.

“I have christian friends precisely because I’m smart enough not to lump them in with AFA or Fred Phelps. ”

AFA and Fred Phelps are acting the way Jesus did not, while violent Islamic extremists are acting the way Muhammad did act. He was a warlord who waged war to expand Islam, and so did all of his successors. He also killed his critics and commanded his followers to kill a myriad of people, including homosexuals. So I do think that there is a fundamental difference between those two religions, both in theology and in practice (as you can see in the statistics I mentioned earlier).

Actually the most prosperous, civilized, and gay friendly countries appear to be the least religious.
http://www.alternet.org/belief/144174/is_belief_in_god_hurting_america/

And count me as one who both understood why certain muslims were offended, but totally agreed the cartoonists had a right to express themselves.

And for the record, I do have a problem with terrorism and theocratic dominionists, however it’s ridiculous to lump all people of X faith into one box just as it would be to lump all gay people in one box. I have christian friends precisely because I’m smart enough not to lump them in with AFA or Fred Phelps. Why people suspend rational arguments when it comes to Islam is beyond me.

Why not try having a discussion about a legitimate criticism without waving around the “bigot” hammer as if that automatically wins the debate for your side.