What this country stands for...

Obama: The idea that we would burn the sacred texts of someone else’s religion is contrary to what this country stands for.  It’s contrary to what this country—this nation was founded on.  And my hope is, is that this individual prays on it and refrains from doing it. . .

In fact, this country stands for our right to burn the sacred texts of any religion we choose, and to criticize faith as strongly as we wish.

Apparently Obama forgot not only about freedom of speech,  but also about those non-believers.  If we’re one nation under God, I’m not part of it.

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PZ Myers:  This seems to be a difficult concept for some people to grasp. No one is saying you can't irrationally revere some religious object — we're just saying you can't tell others that they must irrationally revere your religious object, and you especially can't tell others that their cheap, mass-produced copy of your religious object must be treated in some special way.

More on the Koran burning / Ground Zero free speech thing...  PZ said elsewhere he just doesn't care about firmly held beliefs about some object.  Pullman pointed out that nobody has the right to not be offended.  That isn't encoded anywhere.  "Thou salt not offend religious believers" is not stated anywhere.  The Imam in NYC can build a Mosque right next to ground zero if he wants for all I care.  I think it is rude and provocative and asking unnecessarily for trouble but I respect his right to not care about other people's feelings of offense.  Just as I expect him to respect my right to draw Mohamed.