>It says a lot about the mentality of the French left that calling a religion "stupid" gets you a criminal charge...
Well, in the US if it hit a wrong nerve with someone you could lose your job -- even if you said it on your personal account. Heck, it has happened for far less offensive things.
And unless you name-check God every so often, whether Republican or Democrat, you ain't getting to be President. If God "talks to you" directly, even better.
Also in most other western countries nowadays. In the U.S. it's been illegal since the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Historically one of the more common cases of discriminating based on religion was the prevalence of businesses with "no Jews" policies, but that was eventually banned.
"Touche pas a mon pote" has devolved into "say nothing about Islam, except that it's the religion of peace".
Hopefully this will change, and we'll be able to make meaningful criticisms.
I leave it as an exercise to the reader to translate the following quote: "Sans la liberté de blâmer, il n'est pas d'éloge flatteur."