So anyone that says anything against Christianity (or anything else) is open season to be smacked with a bat? In this nation we have this thing called the First Amendment and it protects free speech. I don't agree with what he was saying and doing but I'll defend his right to say it.
TO THE
BOLD: Why do so many people seem to not understand that the First Amendment "Right" to free speech is not a license to say anything one likes without fear of repercussion?
The First Amendment protects you from
government interference in your ability to say what you'd like. Did cops come along, and arrest the guy for his hateful sign? No? Then his First Amendment rights were not violated.
The first Amendment does
not protect you from the reactions of individuals. You want to say that my mother was a cheap whore, who fucked dogs, and goats on a regular basis? You have every right to say that - no one is going to arrest you for what you said. However,
I, as a private citizen, am very much going to exercise
my first amendment right to express my displeasure at your disparaging comments about my mother by punching you in the face. There is no "Constitutional Right" that protects you from the consequences of your choice to exercise your right to free speech by being a dick.
Now, should the lady that hit the guy with the bat be arrested for assault? Probably, as I'm sure she was. However, her subsequent arrest wasn't the important part of the story. The important part was that this jackass chose to exercise his first amendment right of free speech to be a dick, and it, properly, resulted in someone else exercising
their first amendment right of self-expression, by bashing him over the head with a base-ball bat. maybe, in the future, instead of worrying if he
can say what he wants, he might consider if he
should say what he wants, without reflection of the possible reactions.
Just a thought...