That depends on what you say. I categorise offending people because of their religious feeling roughly with offending people because of the colour of their skin.

And again you demonstrate that you don't understand the difference between a privileged, powerful group and an unprivileged, powerless one.

Insulting Catholicism in Rome is a challenge to authoritarian privilege. Catholicism in Baghdad is picking on a minority.

This really oughtn't be a difficult distinction to grasp.

No, they don't. Not if there is no nexus to their political work.

A clerical authority figure who invokes his religious sentiments - or his congregation's sentiments - in his political work makes his religious sentiments a part of his political work, and as such open to any and all attacks that could be legally leveled against homeopathy or neo-classical economics.

If you don't like that, then feel free to not use your religious sentiments as political arguments.

But you don't get to eat your cake and have it too: Either your religion is politically relevant, and can be mocked and insulted at will. Or it's not, and then it's not a valid political argument.

The Pope has (deservedly) been under fire. I am not aware of any convictions or even prosecutions of speech related to the child abuse cases or any other point where he deserved criticism. If you know of any cases, please share them. If you don't have any cases, what are you talking about?

A completely analogous case of derogatory speech against an authoritarian clerical official.

If you have no problem with calling the Pope and ignorant, mendacious shithead, then what, precisely, is your problem with Pussy Riot? Other than some far-fetched conspiracy theories about their allegedly being part of an American plot to bring down Putin?

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.