I am going to continue to criticize ALL religion, since I think it's ALL evil.
It's not anywhere near being "hate speech", because religion is a CHOICE.
It's not like race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or anything else that is
NOT a choice.

As far as what is "moral" goes, I don't care one whit what someone else
tries to tell me what is moral and what isn't.
I think all religion is immoral. I get to say so.
Whenever anyone tries to say what is "moral" and what isn't, I tend to dismiss them.
In my experience, the people who scream the loudest about morals are usually the
most immoral.

Atheists and agnostics are already criticized, so that particular part of the question is moot.

Everyone is subject to criticism.

It is okay to criticize someone's beliefs.

It is not okay to mistreat people because of their beliefs.

The issue with Islam is not the believers as individuals, but that it has not had a reformation since its beginning.

Christianity has faced severe scrutiny over the past 500 years. "Witches" are no longer burned at the stake, nor are people stoned to death for adultery, for example.

Within Islam, however, these barbaric practices still take place and are widely accepted as just punishments in many Muslim majority countries.

Islam is susceptible to criticism but also unfairly protected due to the majority of its believers having brown skin.

Islam is a religion, not a race. The criticism of the religion is therefore not racist.

A former colleague of mine (Irish) converted to Islam and she is now (not formerly) against any rights granted to gay people. She believes they will burn in hell.

I don't care what colour you are; that belief is worthy of criticism.

Under the atheists banner, all religions are game.

One of my neighbours is a devout Muslim … for some reason he believes that I am a Jew … but a fake one … an Ashkenazi … As I am German I replied: "Oh, you mean I am an AshkeNazi? We still meet regularly for coffee and insults: I call him Taliban … But unfortunately we can never really discuss any real topics in a civilised and constructive manner. For him the AshkeNazi, he has now embraced the expression, are the source of all evil.
Unfortunately he is also an absolute misogynist.
So the only thing we occasionally agree upon is coffee. But sometimes he even fucks that up by adding cloves.

There is a big difference between criticizing and being down right racist.

It is covered under free speech. The only thing that is not protected under the First Amendment is speech that is threatening violence or inciting violence. That is why hate speech is unfortunately protected. They're espousing hate but not directly esposing violence.

Absolutely nothing is exempt from criticism. To refuse to question and argue is the crux of beliefs of the religious horde.

Why do religious beliefs get special treatment? If someone believes in faeries or unicorns, should we coddle their beliefs too?

If it is ever NOT OK to criticize religion the end effect would be to protect such religious belief. I do not care if remarks on your beliefs have made you uncomfortable. Sometimes we need this in order to bring about change. No belief should be coddled or encouraged.

This would be a totally legit discussion if you didn't derail it by just turning it into a backhanded complaint about how you see Islam

incitement to violence is an exception to, and overrides, free speech.

being nasty is not against the law but being nasty is still nasty.

slander is against the law so be careful what you say. if you say jews eat christian babies you may get into trouble.

there is a difference between criticizing the tenets of a religion, criticizing its practitioners and spreading hatred of its practitioners. "judaism forbids the consumption of shellfish" is truthful, at least for those who keep kosher. "judaism forbids the consumption of shellfish and that's stupid" is a combination of fact and opinion and there is nothing wrong with expressing an opinion, although there are different ways to express one. "judaism forbids the consumption of shellfish so jews are stupid" contains a rather bigoted opinion and is not logical (many people who are not stupid do things that either are stupid or are perceived to be stupid). "jews should all be shot dead" could be construed as incitement to violence. "this particular jews did (whatever)" could be slander if it's not factual, or even if it is factual but is interpreted wrongly (for example, "this jew wears a hat and therefore is hiding horns" is a slanderous conclusion if expressed publicly, and if i haven't got it PRECISELY right, well, i'm not a lawyer, but you get my drift, right? so the options in the poll are too simplistic.

g

All criticism should be protected speech.

To be honest, I'll never agree to attacking a person. That is only harmful and will only begat more hate and distrust.
But I do agree with the likes of Dawkins, Fry,Hitch, etc. that religion should be looked at with disdain, contempt, and ridicule.
JMHO.

I think this one's going to be a landslide.

Of course it's free speech. It's a matter of dignity to not go around stirring discontent.

93, 2, 1 - I think that's a pretty clear verdict!

There are few absolutes but one of the few is free speech, which is either absolutely there or absolutely not there, no half way houses. But not all speech is equal and not all speech is without bias.

My, my, my, yet another thinly-veiled attack on a religion other than xian....I am shocked!

That's our constitution

I used to attend a sceptics "meet up" group in Edinburgh and their mantra was "attack the idea, not the person". I go along with that.

It can't be illegal by law to speak for or against any religion.

In the workplace though?

Mocking someone's Hijab or Payots or skirt length should rightly own you the cardboard box march of shame.

Be a decent human.

Islam is an imperialistic political ideology masquerading as, and usurping the advantages of a religion. Very little of the criticism of Islam as related to its pre-Medina religious precepts.
The great majority of criticism targets political Islam:

imperialism,
violence,
oppression,
cruelty,
misogyny,
practice of FGM,
Hijrah invasions,
intolerance of non-believers,
persecution of Kafirs,
hatred and persecution of Jews,
hatred of democracy,
promotion of theocracy,
deliberate deception: Taqiyya, Tawriya, Kitman, Muruna,
executions by beheading, hanging, stoning, etc.
amputations and flogging as punishment,
etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

The "sacred" texts of Islam tolerate, promote and mandate all the above and many more atrocities.

There is a line of subtlety, I think. While it is okay to criticize a religion - or all religions, that is substantively different than criticizing a person based on their religion.

Though there is no need to be insulting to a person it is perfectly fine to criticize ideas and beliefs. Why should religion be protected from criticism? Nothing should be above criticism.