{"id":597,"date":"2010-08-20T17:06:53","date_gmt":"2010-08-20T23:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raincitypastor.wordpress.com\/?p=597"},"modified":"2010-08-20T17:06:53","modified_gmt":"2010-08-20T23:06:53","slug":"youve-spoken-regarding-the-mosque-my-turn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/2010\/08\/20\/youve-spoken-regarding-the-mosque-my-turn\/","title":{"rendered":"You’ve spoken regarding the mosque – my turn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

On a drive north today I saw a sign, similar to this picture, that was intended (I think) to hearken us back to the \u2018good ol\u2019 days\u2019 of the Bush era. \u00a0It was a big billboard of the US Constitution, with the words, \u201cMiss Me Yet?\u201d plastered across it. \u00a0I know the political right likes to call all of us to the \u201cintent of the framers<\/a>\u201d which means that the courts should make decisions by seeking to understand the mind of those who wrote the laws. \u00a0The Tea Party favors limited government because the original government was small. \u00a0Because of this, the right is often crying foul about judges who \u201clegislate from the bench<\/a>\u201d \u00a0I understand both of these philosophies, and often agree with them. \u00a0Judges shouldn\u2019t have the authority to, with the wave of a hand, change laws, and the courts, supreme and otherwise, would do well to wrestle with the principles the original framers had in mind when the wrote the constitution and other laws. These are generally good principles, though they sometimes lead me to different conclusions than my most conservative friends.<\/p>\n

Now, though, some Muslims want to build a mosque near \u201cGround Zero\u201d. \u00a0Suddenly, the very same kind of people who put up signs implying that we\u2019re in an era of \u201ctrashing the constitution\u201d because we\u2019re growing the government, and regulating more things like banks and carbon emissions (or, trying to, at least), are suddenly ready to flush the first amendment down the toilet. \u00a0That\u2019s the one that defends our national freedom to choose our own religion, express ourselves freely, and assemble peaceably.<\/p>\n

If we were talking about a church planning to build near ground zero, and there was opposition based on the nature of the religion, these same people who are flushing the first amendment would be posting it on billboards, petitioning the government for their freedom of religion, and publicly gathering to protest the opposition.<\/p>\n

It appears, from my chair, that there\u2019s a big group of Americans willing to selectively choose when<\/em> the Bill of Rights applies, and to whom<\/em>. \u00a0(the left does this too, but that\u2019s another story for another time) \u00a0The very ones fighting for their rights to keep assualt rifles under their beds don\u2019t seem terribly concerned that someone else\u2019s religious freedoms are being threatened. \u00a0There\u2019s a word for that: hypocrisy.<\/p>\n

Go ahead and say that you\u2019re afraid of Islalmic Fundamentalism if you\u2019d like.<\/p>\n

Go ahead and say that this could be \u00a0PR nightmare for Islam that could well backfire, setting them back still further in their attempts to reach out to America. \u00a0(I agree<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Go ahead and say it\u2019s a bad idea.<\/p>\n

Go ahead and say that you disagree with Islam on some very important beliefs. (I certainly do<\/em>)<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t say they don\u2019t have a right to build it, unless of a course, a church doesn\u2019t have a right to build a building either which, of course, it does. \u00a0It\u2019s ironic that a big protest of this planned mosque is planned on 9\/11 at Ground Zero. \u00a0This means that people will be exercising their first amendment rights to freely assemble, and freely express themselves, for the purpose of declaring that the other part of the first amendment, the freedom to express one\u2019s religion, only applies to certain Americans. \u00a0How tragic and inconsistent is that?<\/p>\n

Christian xenophobia has a long, ugly history, and the group behind the anti-mosque movement is xenophobic to the extreme. \u00a0I remember, a few years ago, stepping off a train in Austria and walking into the midst of a neo-Nazi rally. \u00a0Their fear was breeding<\/em> fear in Austria then, and now the same thing\u2019s happening here. \u00a0All this makes me grateful for that pesky little bill of rights, and I pray that it will be a long, long time before we flush it down the toilet.<\/p>\n

These are my present thoughts, and I welcome your feedback\u2026<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a drive north today I saw a sign, similar to this picture, that was intended (I think) to hearken us back to the \u2018good ol\u2019 days\u2019 of the Bush era. \u00a0It was a big billboard of the US Constitution, with the words, \u201cMiss Me Yet?\u201d plastered across it. \u00a0I know the political right likes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nYou've spoken regarding the mosque - my turn<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On a drive north today I saw a sign, similar to this picture, that was intended (I think) to hearken us back to the 'good ol' days' of the Bush era. \u00a0It\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/2010\/08\/20\/youve-spoken-regarding-the-mosque-my-turn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"You've spoken regarding the mosque - 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