Religious freedom and tolerance
By: John Bispala 09/01/2010
President Barack Obama has now stated clearly where he stands on the controversy over the proposed building of a mosque near ground zero in New York. He said to the Muslim community on August 13, "As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country...That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances," he said. "This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable."
Over the years since September 11, 2001, I have received so much email from people who let you know they are Christians and yet who express anti-Muslim attitudes that amount to fear and hatred, attitudes that are out of line with the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the peacemakers," just to mention one admonition of Jesus. The prevalent anti-Muslim mood tells me people are not making fair distinctions.
The most basic distinction President Obama is making is between the very, very few Muslim Americans who would commit a terrible crime as was done at the World Trade Center and, by contrast, the millions of Muslims who are law abiding, freedom loving citizens of the USA. All Muslims are not the same!
Sitting in Philadelphia in 1776, our nation's founding fathers were not trying to be primarily Christians. What they were trying to do was to keep bishops and the church from dominating the Revolutionary government. They had experienced the failure of that domination in their lands of origin. This country got its start with an anti-clerical attitude, but this didn't make them any less personally devoted to their own religious, moral or philosophical principles. There are countries today dominated by a religion and lacking in freedom for their people.
Some experts today point out that the "separation of church and state" is not a codified legal requirement in our constitution. Maybe so, but it is only horse sense to make good distinctions, and utterly impossible to think straight without them. I don't believe we should have a radical separation of religion and government, as though the two should be torn apart, but a dialogical separation, where all our citizens, without discrimination, can continune to be engaged freely at every level of government and community.
John Bispala,
Webber-Camden