First Amendment Principles

There is a lot of debate about the Mosque whose building is being proposed near ground zero. For some people, the prospect of a Mosque so near ground zero is outrageous. For others it is a celebration of a person's right to freely worship and believe however they so choose. While I am still uncertain about the appropriateness of building a Mosque so near the place that many people regard as hallowed ground, I must, as a son of the Constitution, uphold a person's right to have such a place so they too can worship the way they see fit.

The President recently expressed his views on the matter stating that "Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country." On the other hand, an article in the Wallstreet Journal quoted a conservative blogger and founder of a group called 'Stop Islamization of America' as saying that the President "has, in effect, sided with the Islamic jihadists."

I have stated before that the freedom of religion is a right that the founders of this country held so sacred that it's the second right listed in the Bill of Rights, right behind freedom of speech. In a previous post (coincidentally also about the Islamic faith) I stated that likening Islam to terrorism is akin to likening Christianity to the KKK. Members of the KKK use Christianity as a basis for their attacks. Does that mean all Christians are members of the KKK? Absolutely not. Likewise many terrorists and jihadists use the Islamic faith as a basis for their attacks. Once again, does that mean all Muslims are terrorists and jihadists? No. The idea that terrorism and Islam go hand and hand is preposterous.

The President and I disagree on a lot of issues; Health care, boarder security, his handling of the Gulf oil spill. Though I don't think it's really the President's place to comment on such things, I can say without hesitation, that the President is absolutely spot on with his sentiments on the building of the Mosque. There is no room in this country for religious intolerance. The President has finally lived up to his Oath of Office, that little part that says that he will to the best of his ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

This country was founded on certain principles, one of them being the freedom to worship and believe however we want. Constitutional scholars will tell you that there is only 1 absolute right, a right that can neither be abolished nor infringed upon and that is the right of belief. Akin to that right is the right to worship so long as your form of worship does not infringe upon another's right to worship. Reverend William Rench, who is the pastor of the church next door to the proposed Mosque site, believes that building the Mosque next door to his church will infringe on his and his congregation's right to worship because he thought "such a large structure on two acres would tower over the church."

Religious intolerance is one of the main reasons our founders left England. This country is founded on laws that afford rights to the people and duties to the government to respect and uphold those rights. That is what makes America the greatest country on Earth.