Guilty or not

Some people claim Pastor Terry Jones is guilty of a crime because he knew that burning the Quran would cause violence somewhere and people were likely to be hurt or to die. Others agree that he was just expressing his rights of free speech.

There is a limit on speech being free. A word or sentence can be deemed a crime is the person speaking those words knows or should have known that death or serious injury would be the likely outcome especially if those words were not true when spoken and were spoken with the intent to cause harm, like yelling "Fire" in an overcrowded venue.

But it is my opinion that the act of burning the Koran is not illegal but protected free speech even though the pastor knew or should have known that harm would come to others because of that act because it was not his act that caused the people
to react violently but it was their choice to do so.

Well, it is a persons choice to flee a crowded room when there is believed to be a fire, one could argue but that scenario is different because that is an immediate reaction to a perceived threat to a persons well being and panic sets in as a disassociated group turns into a mob from fear.

The violence in reaction to the burning of the Quran was done not from fear or a mob mentality but from anger and a misguided believe that the paper holding the words of the Quran are somehow holy.

The Holy Bible of Christianity contains what Christians believe are the Holy words of Almighty God yet it is the words that are sacred and not the paper that contains the words. Burn all the books you want, but Christians are not going to attack, kill and injury in response.

What that preacher did is shameful just as what those people protesting at funerals is, but that is the great thing about American. Burning a Quran is just as much protected free speech is as publishing Hustler was or signing God Bless American.
Some people think that should be illegal too.