(03-31-2012, 03:32 PM)Occhidiangela Wrote: MavFin, what do you mean by "the Roman Catholic Church" of the time, given that it wasn't until about 381 that the Church's legitimacy in Rome (after the "it's legal to be Christian" by Constantine in 313/Edict of Milan) morphed into MainStream, when the emperor declared it more or less the official religion of the empire.
Care to elaborate?
I don't have the sources in front of me, Bible study not being one of my specialties, but, I have read that some Bible scholars suspect that in the making of the King James version that some creative editing was done to fit someone's political agenda, and one of the examples most used to support that viewpoint is the differences between Paul's 1st letter, and the others labeled with his name. No more and no less than that. I was thinking the Catholic Church was involved in the compilation of that version, but I might have remembered that wrong.
It's all historical things that there may never be any proof of, but, I generally think that the King James version, which most modern versions of the Bible are based on, was creatively edited in its compilation to reflect the Church's political views of the day. Old white men, and all that. So, while it's very instructive and has many messages, I don't believe all of them to be from the same source. You can of course, believe your own version of events. The 1st amendment covers your and my freedom to do so, Occhi.
That's all I have to say on the Bible issues. If you have further questions, Occhi, feel free to PM me, and I'll discuss them with you, but that's enough religious derailing in an already contentious political thread.
(03-31-2012, 03:54 PM)Tal Wrote: But it isn't. The only way to be sure speech is protected is to keep the exceptions very limited - an example being speech that endangers the public good. Yelling Fire in a crowded theater being the rule of thumb.
Take the Westboro nutjobs. It's disgraceful, disrespectful and downright hateful for them to use their right of free speech to picket funerals to bring attention to their cause. But you can't limit that. If you start doing that you give the legislature the crack in the wall to impose more limitations until you wind up not being able to speak out against the government.
Couldn't have said it better, and probably not even as well. I despise Westboro's message, but I'm not in favor of silencing them.
--Mav