One of the most important and cherished rights that any human should have is the freedom to speak his or her beliefs, no matter how ridiculous or hateful they are. Ones fellow human beings, whether acting as individuals or through the government, should never have the right to restrict what another believes or says - especially in any public forum. This is not an area where the majority should have the right to suppress the speaker. Restricting speech is completely alien to the concept of free thought. Suppression of free speech is the restriction of the exercise of free thought and can easily lead to suppression of the free exercise of political independence.

One would hope that humans would be respectful, intelligent and considerate in dealing with another human's opinions and in the exercise of free speech. While that is the goal, failure to meet that goal should never be the basis for restricting the speech of the disrespectful, stupid or inconsiderate person. Freedom does come with some risks and those risks are necessary for the overall success of a democratic society. Americans have been fighting for the right to be free for more than 200 years and all Americans should be well aware that thousands of men and women have died in defense of our ability to speak freely without fear of imprisonment, torture and death.

So, what about religion? And more specifically, what about Muslims and the Muhammad cartoons?

Without a doubt, one of the most important rights for which we Americans have fought is the right to be free to worship as we wish or to not worship at all. And, that includes the right to say that another person's religion is false. How many preachers have preached against false teachings?

I cherish the right to be able to point out how religions are false - all of them. Here are some examples of religious beliefs that I find absurd:

• Chrisianity
  • The alleged existence of a soul and the resurrection of Jesus.
  • The Eucharist - its a symbolically cannibalistic practice.
  • The whole concept of Jesus as a sacrificial lamb - this is based on the pagan belief that human sacrifice will appease the gods and is nonsense.
• Judaism
  • The idea that a males needs to cut off part of their penises to show their allegence to God.
  • The idea that God gave the Jews a particular part of the world - an absurdity that is causing huge loss of life and considerable political unrest in the world.
• Islam
  • Muhammad ascended into heaven from where the Dome of the Rock is now, saw and spoke with Allah and even negotiated with Allah as to how many times they must say prayers in a day.
  • The whole idea that a martyr can find fantastic human pleasures in paradise and take several of his or her relatives along too (72, I believe).

Well, the above are just a few examples of what I could include here. And, the idea that I who find these beliefs to be totally absurd might not be able to so state without fearing some sort of retribution, reprisal or imprisonment is likewise absurd and contrary to all for which the United States stands.

So how should we react to Muslims who are offended by the publication of these cartoons? How do we come to some sort of accomodation where we can be friends and not destroy one another? I am not sure!

First, I think we must assert our right to speak ill of ideas and beliefs with which we disagree, even if that means we offend the Muslims. Second, we must not withdraw from our defense of those inalienable rights for which we have fought throughout the history of the United States. Third, we should be respectful of Muslims as fellow human beings. Fourth, we must be respectful of Muslims' right to believe in their religion.

I find that Christianity, Judaism and most of the other religions of the world to be based largely on ignorance, superstition and fear and I have no reason to except Islam from the list. Hopefully, the religious - no matter what their faith - will realize that their beliefs are based upon false premises, will turn to secular humanism and we can live together as one human family. Until then, we just need to try to work together the best we can!