Tamar,

>>>Actually, people of various religions were offended by the name "Infinite Justice" because they believe that only God can dispense that.
>
>>Whatever happened to this country's separation of church and state? Are we now under the control of religions? What happened to the separation of church and state?
>
>Changing the name of a military operation so as to avoid offending religious people doesn't seem like an unwarranted intrusion of church into state. After all, we'd have changed the name if it offended people of a particular ethinicity, too, no?
>
>FWIW, I have really strong feelings about the separation of church and state. As one in the minority, I have a pretty good idea what the founders had in mind, and I've been through the discomfort of sitting in school while everyone around me sang Christmas carols. So, my antennae are pretty finely tuned on this subject.
>


Well, there is a difference between "freedom of religion" and "freedom from religion", which most seem to confuse these days.

Freedom of speech intrinsicly contains the right to offend. That's why I am free to say something that might offend you, or visa versa. Using the notion of "being offended" as a legal justification for restricting speech and the free expressin of different ideas, which is what has essentially happened in today's legal and political circles, has opened a true Pandora's box with no end in sight.

For example, I am offended that some want to scrub God out of public life. Based on the notion of wanting to avoid offending then I should have my way and God should be back in the public square. But, those in the minority want Him taken out as they as "offended", so He's gone.

Why are their rights more important than mine?

They are not but these folks stubbornly refuse to accept that their position of using "offense" as a legal justification is fundamentally flawed as it serves their aims.

I have every right to speak my mind whether or not you (figuratively speaking) or anyone else likes it. Just as you have every right to say things I might not like. I accept your right to so speak. Don't take mine away unless you subscribe to the notion that hypocrisy is morally "good". <g>