On inciting hatred

A spot on post from Ed Brayton:

Here's where laws against "inciting hatred" lead:

Erol Karaaslan, the founder of the small publishing house Kuzey Publications, could face between six months and a year in jail for "inciting hatred and enmity" if Istanbul prosecutors decide to press charges over the book, which has sold 6000 copies in Turkey since it was published this summer.

Give government the ability to punish people for "inciting hatred and enmity", or whatever similar language they might choose, and you will inevitably find that the government will decide that any opinions they don't like or that are critical of groups they seek to protect do exactly that and must be banned.

We should worry about things like this happening in the US. Far too many Evangelicals have convinced themselves that "persecution" means any time Christianity is criticized.