those laws are an atrocity....well i suppose if i travel to one of those countries i better set aside some bail money and a good lawyer...and probably brush up on my torture endurance(given some countries penchant for it)...i can't believe a u.s. president endorsed it....i'm ashamed...whatever happened to seperation of church and state...now we have even more of the so called "moral majority" calling the shots when they need to focus on making sure their priests can stop molesting the alter boys, they continue to preach tolerance and acceptance and yet they persecute people that think,speak or act differently from them...<br />kana's tree analogy is spot on....i need to go center myself before i boil over

it's quite possible that obama didn't thoroughly understand what he was agreeing to, although as they say here: ignorance is no excuse. if he didn't truly or fully understand then he should of taken the time to read through until full comprehension sank in...oh well at least (fortunately)we don't have those type of laws here(yet) and if someone ever tried to introduce them i doubt they'd get the majority votes required to pass and if they somehow did....with all the militias here already distrusting of the government i have no doubt a civil war would ensue....tragic....all because zealots can't get over themselves, have no sense of humor, are too sensitive....i say they need to grow a sack, learn to laugh and cover their ears on occassion....when i tell people i'm a jedi, i expect them to laugh and appreciate when they don't....life can be harsh just do like they do in aikido...roll with the punches :lol:

i saw that it could protect freedom of religion when reading the originally posted article, however not everyone is going to share the same religious views and maybe it's just the various churches i've been to but i've sat in many sermons where the preacher was speaking negatively about another religion...under that law the preacher could be punished...<br />there was recently a case here in florida of a 17 year old muslim girl that ran away from her home in ohio after converting to christianity because she was afraid that her family would kill her for converting....she got that from the christian pastor that converted her, upon her arrival here they gave her a fictitious name and brought her into their church claiming she was a religious refugee that fled persecution from "a dangerous muslim home"....anyone with half a brain knows that true islam is a very tolerant religion, and that the extremists have twisted it's concept of jihad...<br /><br />under that law the pastor would be punished legally(he still may for encouraging her to runaway, and concealing her whereabouts) while i don't disagree with that i do disagree with the fact that the government could force someone not to speak their mind...<br />opinions are like sphincters, everyone's got one, they all stink, and nobody will admit it....