I'm confused about the American Republican party

[FireIceTalon]

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While I am generally in favor of free speech (especially against government and political institutions or corporations), certain types of hate speech, in particular those of a racist, sexist, religious, or discriminatory nature toward gays/lesbians or disabled individuals should NOT be protected under any circumstances.

What a slippery slope. Who gets to determine exactly what is hate speech in that context?

Well it isn't really. If a constitution says all people are equal independent of their skin colour, sexual preference or religion it is not a stretch to not allow people to make hateful remarks about this.

So if I say "I don't like Catholics" - is that hate speech? Or a comedian makes the tired joke about Catholic Priests and little boys that upsets someone - should the comedian be beaten as AngryCommie contends?

You can't take the Potter Stewart Rule of Pornography (I know it when I see it) and use it for outlawing hate speech. It goes against the intentions of the First Amendment.

Your comedian example may or may not be hate speech depending on the joke's context, because it may very well be possible it attacks the ETHICS of Catholic Priests, and not necessarily Catholic Priests themselves. Saying "I dont like Catholics" would indeed constitute as hate speech. Now, you can say "I hate the Catholic religion", and that would NOT be hate speech, because you are attacking the religion, and not the necessarily the people who practice it.

I hate Christianity, but I dont necessarily hate all Christians. I have a couple friends who are Christian and others who practice some other religion...context plays a very fine line between hate and non-hate speech.

Religion may be a bit of a slippery slope, but ethnic, gender, and sexual orientation are quite straight forward. Things such as Nazi/KKK rallies and the like are to NOT be protected under the 1st Amendment.