Sure but on the other side you have to look at the necessity of open communication and the fact that the US enjoys strong free speech protections as a reaction

Sure but on the other side you have to look at the necessity of open communication and the fact that the US enjoys strong free speech protections as a reaction to pretty horrendous legal abuses (particularly by the government) in the past. It's not just a question of theocratic regimes. Every government everywhere tends to react to insults. If you don't believe me, next time you fly insult the TSA officers as much as you can and see how they react. The way this is usually managed is by requiring a general tone of respect in a critique. It's the way it works in every Islamic country I have been in, as well as many others. But there are two problems with this in the context of the US: First we have a history of the government silencing whatever ideas they can (trying to argue that distributing writings of Karl Marx amounts to the same thing as raising an army to violently overthrow the government). The other problem in a pluralistic nation is that this sort of thing has to be a two way street to work. It's fine to insist that everyone speak at least somewhat respectful of another group but that only really works if there is reciprocal respect. More often it is a power play and that's the problem.