August 14, 2010
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Modern Day Freedom of Religion
Dear Muslims,
Please understand. We’re not trying to FORCE you not to open a community center that contains a mosque two blocks from ground zero. You have a right to build a mosque anywhere you want. We totally believe in religious freedom and tolerance! We’re in favor of Islam! We love muslims! We only questioned the “wisdom” of you building it in precisely that location.
And if, in so doing, we just happened to whip up so much anger, fear, hatred, and resentment directed toward muslims that you became downright afraid that if you did build a mosque you’d have a mob of people with torches and pitchforks knocking down your door… well that’s hardly OUR fault is it? I mean just because we said that Islam is our enemy and the muslim faith and the koran are totally to blame for 9/11… that obviously doesn’t make us anti-Islam. Any idiot with half a brain would know we’re talking about Osama Bin Laden and his crew! … and hezbollah… and hamas… and the entire muslim parts of the populations of Iran, Syria, and Pakistan… and members of the Nation of Islam… and any muslims working for Al Jazeera… and any other muslims we don’t like. But definitely not muslims in general.
And of course the fact that people are enraged across the country at the very idea of building a mosque *anywhere* near them, well that can’t possibly have anything to do with our campaign against THIS mosque. How dare you even think to accuse us of that! Those protests are all independent actions. We can hardly control those people and for all we know they might have legitimate reasons to question the “wisdom” of building those mosques too! You have to look at it on a case by case basis.
All we’re saying is it’s like totally your constitutional right to build a mosque anywhere in the country if you own the property on which it will sit. Just make sure you decide where and when to build your mosques “wisely” And of course we’ll be the judge of what’s wise or not. If you choose wrongly we’ll just make sure everybody knows and that everybody rightfully hates you for it. And, although we won’t have anything to do with it, because we’re very peaceful people who never ever advocate or instigate violence… I’d still watch your back if I were you.
Sincerely,
The 70% of Americans who are against the ground-zero Mosque
Comments (22)
The Constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion does not guarantee that places of worship can be built willy nilly.
The mosque at Ground Zero is a tribute to the slaughter wrought by the Islamic Jihad on 9/11.
@LoBornlytesThoughtPalace - Right. Because the core principle of religious freedom and tolerance is that you can practice your religion just the same as anyone else in accordance with the law except when I arbitrarily decide to groundlessly proclaim your activity to be “a tribute to the slaughter wrought by the Islamic Jihad on 9/11.” Then all bets are off.
@nephyo - How can the slaughter of 3000 people at the hands of the Islamic Jihad be arbitrary? You have just done what liberals do: slaughter the language.
@LoBornlytesThoughtPalace – Oh I’m sorry. I didn’t realize my words were so difficult for you to grasp. Let me walk you through it. “arbitrary” modifies “proclaim” and the thing you are proclaiming is the candidate “activity” that we are trying to assess whether or not someone is allowed to do under the principles of religious freedom and tolerance. In this case that activity refers to the building of the mosque. So what is arbitrary is your proclamation that building the mosque is a “tribute to” the events of 9/11. That proclamation you apparently think is sufficient to justify intolerance and taking away rights. Which is silly. That’s why I was mocking you.
Saying that I am declaring the deaths that occurred on 9/11 to be “arbitrary” is either a pitiful miss-reading or a deliberate attempt to miss characterize my words.
It’s hilarious then that you follow that idiocy up with the suggestion that liberals are the only ones who abuse language.
@nephyo - Simple decency is a simple concept that is lost on liberals. Your talking a simple concept to death doesn’t change the fact that a free society may protect itself from the forces that are trying to destroy it.
@LoBornlytesThoughtPalace - Amazing that you think this: http://i.imgur.com/TacgJ.jpg is such a serious threat to free society that we have to protect ourselves from it.
If this makes us freak out, free society must be full of wusses and cowards.
As much as I disagree with Islam, they have the right to build a mosque there if they want to. I think the right option is to criticize Islam (and religion in general), but that doesn’t mean taking away their freedom of religion.
@LoBornlytesThoughtPalace - Should Christians be stopped from building a church near a place where other Christians did something horrible?
@nephyo - Words are tricky. Hate is easy. Hence her reaction.
@Jedi_Master_713 - This has already happened. Pope John Paul II nixed the building of a Catholic shrine on the site of a Jewish gas chamber. There was a huge fuss and the Pope was wise enough to understand the outrage. The Catholics had the perfect right to build the shrine but chose not to out of consideration to local feelings.
The Islamic Jihad is out to conquer the West.
@LoBornlytesThoughtPalace - Was it on the site or near the site? In this case, the mosque is not on the actual site but near it. If it was actually on the site, then I would say they should not build the mosque there. You write that the Pope stopped the building of the shrine. That’s the crucial difference. If the people planning this mosque decided not to build there, that would be fine. There are people who think that this mosque should be stopped legally, violating the First Amendment. (Also, as nephyo pointed out, people are protesting mosques in other places in the country that are not near the site of any such disaster. That leads me to believe that at least some of the people protesting against it are doing so for discriminatory reasons, and not just due to the location.)
I already wrote that I don’t agree with Islam and realize that there are violent teachings in it. That’s one of the reasons I left. Christianity is every bit as wrong as Islam, and the Bible every bit as violent as the Qur’an. The only reason many members of your religion have become more moderate is because of secularism. It’s not because Christianity is inherently less hateful. Just as there are Christians who don’t follow the violent parts of the Bible, there are Muslims who don’t follow the violent parts of the Qur’an.
We cannot protect ourselves against the hateful people who would do this country harm by violating the First Amendment. If we take way freedom of religion, then we’ll have lost exactly what we’re supposed to be fighting for.
@Jedi_Master_713 - The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom to build churches all over the place.
The reconstruction of the Saint Nicholas Eastern Orthodox Church which was destroyed at Ground Zero has been blocked by the New York port authority. I just heard that today during a radio discussion between Michael Medved and Bill Bennett.
There was never any Constitutional reason to approve the travesty of building a mosque at Ground Zero. In fact, Obama’s position before he contradicted himself over the the weekend was that a mosque at Ground Zero was a local issue.
Also, Obama excoriated the Israelis for building settlements on their own land in Jerusalem because it would offend the Muslims.
Your arguments don’t hold water.
@nephyo - I think that picture makes the point well. Have you seen this article? (http://www.slate.com/id/2263334/) Although I don’t always agree with Hitchens, I think he’s absolutely right about this. I like the fact that he’s been critical of Islam but does not want to take away the freedom of religion of those he disagrees with. Sorry about taking up your comments section with the argument.
this is epic in an unexplainable way, hehhh
Very well said, sir. You have encapsulated the thinly-veiled hatred and ignorance that the vocal opponents to this mosque embody.
And, as usual, we have a comedic genius in our midst. All hail Loborlytes’ awesome comedy!
Meh. Demagoguery in response to demagoguery is still demagoguery.
Great entry.
LoBorn is hilarious
.@Unstoppable_Inner_Strength - Yeah I swear she’s satire.
@randomneuralfirings - And pointless douchebaggery is still pointless douchebaggery. LOL! You’re probably one of those against building the mosque. Probably. If so…so much for religion of love. Of course, it’s love and civil rights only for those of your same religion, which is the point being raised here, and to which you contributed nothing. Kudos.
@In_Reason_I_Trust - By all means, tell me more about what I believe. I really want to know.
“Any idiot with half a brain would know we’re talking about Osama Bin Laden and his crew! … and hezbollah… and hamas… and the entire muslim parts of the populations of Iran, Syria, and Pakistan… and members of the Nation of Islam… and any muslims working for Al Jazeera… and any other muslims we don’t like. But definitely not muslims ingeneral.” Very nice. That made me smile.
@randomneuralfirings - satire and demagoguery are different. Demagogues speak as if what they are absolutely certain of the truth of their statements, whether or not it is, in order to appeal to the prejudices of the audience. Satire is simply deliberately ridiculing someone directly in a humorous way in order to provoke a change in opinion in them or in the audience. What is being said is known not to be true both by the speaker and the audience but the underlying truth is, in good satire, a valid argument. In any case it’s upfront. Demagoguery is deception. They aren’t trying to make a meaningful point. Indeed they are deliberately avoiding arguments and facts. They only care that you get angry and filled with irrational hate.
This entry is obvious satire. In my next entry you might be able to make a better case of accusing me of engaging in demagoguery. You’d be wrong still but you could make a better case.
But some campaigns are so grotesque, so monstrous, so disturbing, and so dangerous that they ought to be ridiculed and satired.
And every Catholic church is a tribute to the sexual perverts known as Catholic priests.
You can argue all you want, or discuss all you want, but the truth is that when big moeny speaks, we are all screwed. They will do what they want because they can and nothing we have to say one way or another matters.