
by Bruce Hetrick
On TV this morning, there was a story about Americans opposed to a mosque near ground zero—the site of the former World Trade Center in New York City.
The story featured Americans who said that if the mosque were built, they would blow it up.
There were Americans calling on other Americans to burn the Koran.
There were Americans proclaiming ours a Christian nation; others need not apply.
There was mention of a 21-year-old film student who asked his Manhattan cab driver if he were Muslim. When the driver answered yes, the passenger stabbed him several times, nearly killing him.
Those opposed to the mosque near ground zero have a constitutional right to speak freely against it.
But in exercising that right, they must recognize that the same constitution that protects their free speech also ensures Muslims the right to worship freely and prohibits the U.S. from establishing a state religion—Christian or otherwise.
I don’t know how to prevent terrorists proclaiming membership in radical Islam from hating us. But I’m certain that burning books of faith, denying religious freedom, stabbing a person for his religious beliefs and threatening to blow up a religious site—all in the name of patriotism and Christianity—are not representative of the civility our Founding Fathers or Jesus had in mind.
Should we use our rights to deny others theirs?



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