Quote:
Originally Posted by Zachstar
When you KNOW that what you will doing will cause people to die and will only not do it if your demands are met that makes that pastor a terrorist. He is attempting to terrorize the US with the threat of action that will directly lead to violence.
That is terrorism pure and simple.
If would be different if his book burning was hush hush among members of his group but he has plastered it all over and tied his choice of if or not the community center moves.
It is exactly the same if someone claimed they would cause an action that would lead to violence if we refused to stop supporting Israel. That would make the person doing the action a terrorist. Causing a riot that will injure kill innocent civilians and military is a terrorist act.
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That doesn't wash at all. Terrorism is the use of, well, terror to illicit a response. This means that the burning of the Quran must instill a certain degree of fear of personal harm to be effective. By your very loose definition of 'terror', burning the American flag could be construed as terrorism. So could a protest march or a public rally. That's too slippery a slope for my tastes.
And so it is that it comes down to taste. You find the act distasteful. So do I. However, if the First Amendment is to be anything more than a piece of paper, it must protect his right of expression as much as it would mine, so long as he is not placing anyone in direct physical jeopardy, which he isn't. If he doesn't have a permit, then he gets fined or spends a night in jail. That's the law, but it doesn't make him a terrorist.
Oh, and our enemies are going to try and kill our troops again on Sunday, whether Qurans are burnt or not.