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.

Patriots Unite!

So it's been a while since I've posted anything. Like most Americans I am growing tired of the political scene, all the mud slinging, opponent bashing rhetoric that has for too long gone unchecked. It's a pitty. This country has strayed from the principles upon which it was founded, the principles that George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and countless others devoted their lives to securing for us.

Recently I got a job working for a Judge. This man has got to be the most patriotic man I have ever met in my life. He is the co-founder of Patriot Week. Every year from September 11th until September 17th (Constitution Day, the day the Constitution was signed) people are asked to show their love for their country. It can be as small as wearing a red, white, and blue shirt, or even simply reflecting on our first founding principles all the way up to holding an event at their homes or someplace else. (visit http://www.patriotweek.org/ for a full run down)

It literally pains me to look around and see what this country has become. We used to be a nation of people who would help one another in a time of crisis, whether we knew the person or not. We devoted our lives to the betterment of mankind and strived to become better people through our actions. Things have changed. Nowadays people are so concerned with where they have to be in 15 minutes, they are so caught up in making money only to spend it on themselves. The other day I saw a homeless man outside my work (they probably aren't supposed to be there, it is, afterall a court house) and a lawyer in a designer suit walked right past him without giving him a second thought, then I saw an older gentleman walk past him, pause, turn around and hand the man a $50 bill. The homeless man was shocked, I heard the older gentleman say "It's only money, I can get more. Besides, we're too busy helping out everyone else in the world we forget about our own here at home..." he paused for a moment and I could see he was reflecting on something and he said "If we don't protect our own then nobody else will."

There is nothing better than being an American. I think if everyone would relax, look around them, and appreciate the opportunities and the privileges they have been given then this world would be a much better place. We've grown complacent and myopic. We only think of ourselves. I firmly believe it is when we give that we receive, however as of late, America has been giving to other countries a whole lot more than we receive from other countries, and yet all they do is dislike us even more. It is time for Americans to rise up and say "no more!" It is time for Americans to demand that we help those here at home first. I am not talking about social programs like welfare and socialized medicene because that does more harm than good and is only a short term solution to a long term problem. I am talking about something bigger, and I don't know what but I am open to suggestions. It is time to have a free, open, uncensored debate, which we can in this country. And that is why America is the greatest country on Earth.

We hold these truths to be self evident...

On July 4th, 1776, The 2nd Continental Congress got together at Independence Hall in Philadelphia and approved the language of the Declaration of Independence which had been written, in large part, by Thomas Jefferson. When the declaration was written, the thirteen colonies were engaged in a tumultuous war with Great Britain that had lasted for almost a year.

The second paragraph of the declaration contains one of the greatest sentences of any document written during the founding of our country. The first sentence of the second paragraph of the Declaration is the basis of our entire belief system here in America. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...." The first clause of that sentence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident" means that those truths need no further explanation, that everybody should know they exist and know of their meaning.

Recently, I received a mass e-mail that stated that due to the shooting at Ft. Hood, all Muslim soldiers in our military should be discharged. I analogized this to saying that if all Muslims should be kicked out because they may or may not be terrorists, than all Christians should be kicked out because they may or may not be members of the KKK. This e-mail went on to say that ALL Muslims believe in the teachings of hate and death and that there is no such thing as a good Muslim. I am not a Muslim, but I was deeply offended by this statement because the beauty of our great nation is that any person can worship any way they want without being persecuted for it. If a person wants to worship a plate of spaghetti or a book written by L. Ron Hubbard, they should be allowed to do it, and should still be allowed to participate in the military.

How many shootings have occurred in the military in recent years? Only one that I can remember. It just so happens that it was promulgated by a Muslim and occurred in a post 9/11 United States. Had the same shooting, by the same person happened on September 8th, 2001, we wouldn't be having this discussion, we would simply be saying "wow, what a tragedy."

What the writer of that e-mail failed to realize is that his "proposal" would violate the other greatest document ever written, the Constitution of the United States, whose first amendment reads "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...." I am not overly religious, but it is my belief that Jesus taught us compassion, tolerance, and love. And this e-mail, which was written by a Christian fundamentalist group known as www.liveprayer.com would seem to go against the teachings of Jesus.

I will end this here by saying that Christians need to follow the example of their leader. They cannot just conveniently ignore or forget certain sections of his teachings. They need to stop going to church one hour a week and returning to their sinful lifestyles, if they want people to take them seriously, they need to reflect the teachings of Jesus in everyday life. People criticized Obama for telling the Arab nations that the United States is not a Christian Nation, and while I am not at all a supporter of Obama, he had it right. The United States, while founded by Christian men, is a nation of many people, backgrounds, and religions. This is what makes us the Greatest Country on Earth.