Limits of Speech in Free Societies

Re “Democracy Is No Polite Tea Party,” Commentary, Feb. 7: Like Salman Rushdie, I am deeply offended by the notion that all religious beliefs should be protected from criticism or mockery. In a free society, there should be no special status given to one set of beliefs over all others. History is stained with the blood of countless millions killed in the name of God by every organized religion. The monstrous record of professed atheists is no better.

If I choose to believe that god is a pink zucchini, that’s my business, and, in a civilized society, you should be free to question or even mock my beliefs. My right to my religious beliefs is no greater or more sacred than your right to deny the deity of the pink zucchini. And I have no right to silence or threaten you for your opinion, no matter how rudely you express it.

Marvin A. Gluck

Topanga

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I just don’t see that there is such a thing as absolute freedom of speech. As a Supreme Court judge pointed out 100 years ago, crying “fire” when there is none in the middle of a crowded theater that results in people killing each other while rushing out in panic is a criminal act. What about neo-Nazis fomenting racial riots? Or the thugs of yore promulgating murder for the benefit of their gods?

Rudolph F. Rau

Stuttgart, Germany