President Obama, Secretary Clinton condemn planned Koran burning

President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and host of other U.S. political and religious leaders joined last week in condemning a Florida pastor's plans to burn Korans on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

President Obama said, "The idea that we would burn the sacred texts of someone else’s religion is contrary to what this country stands for.  It’s contrary to what this country -- this nation was founded on.  And my hope is, is that this individual prays on it and refrains from doing it.
I just hope he understands that what he’s proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans; that this country has been built on the notions of religious freedom and religious tolerance."

Secretary of State Clinton said at the State Department Iftar dinner: "We sit down together for this meal on a day when the news is carrying reports that a pastor down in Gainesville, Florida plans to burn the Holy Koran on September 11th. 

I am heartened by the clear, unequivocal condemnation of this disrespectful, disgraceful act that has come from American religious leaders of all faiths, from evangelical Christians to Jewish rabbis, as well as secular U.S. leaders and opinion-makers.  Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation.  Many of you know that in 1790, George Washington wrote to a synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, that this country will give 'to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.'”

Why couldn't the U.S. Government just stop the proposed Koran burning from happening?

•  The United States is a nation of laws and rights, including a Constitutional right to free speech.  As reprehensible as the view it expresses may be, the federal government cannot, consistent with the freedom of speech enshrined in the First Amendment, prevent someone from burning the Koran because the government disagrees with the message that conduct conveys. 

•  The Constitutional right to freedom of speech protects expression of even the most distasteful and un-American views.  The Supreme Court has held, for instance, that an individual could not be prosecuted for burning an American Flag (Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989)).