My invisible dad's bigger than your invisible dad

For once a victory for good sense, the judge in this case has thrown it out hopefully with a flea in the ear of both parties. Benjamin and Sharon Vogelenzang (evangelical Christians, pictured below) were accused by Ericka Tazi (a Muslim) of threatening, abusive or insulting words which were religiously aggravated.

This was always a case that smacked of a domestic spat or an argument between sibling children, he said, she said etc. but there is an important underlying freedom at stake and I am glad that the case has turned out the way it has.

In recent years religious interests (particularly Islamic ones) have been trying to sneak legislation into various institutions regarding "hate speech", most notably Muslims at the United Nations and Catholics in Ireland, all of these initiatives seem to me to be thinly veiled attempts by religion to censor criticism of itself. This is something religion has been doing for centuries (usually at the point of a sword) of course, censorship it seems is a vital component in maintaining the spell. Fortunately some of us see nothing wrong with arguing about the ideas contained within religions and robustly presenting evidence or opinion that religion is not true or wrong in its assertions about the universe. As for arguments among different religions over what is right and wrong they are just amusing, like arguing over how many angels can fit on the head of a needle, utterly academic and as shown in this case, nothing to get upset about.