I have stayed out of most arguments about the Ground Zero Mosque as it seemed so fundamentally simple to me. There is no way in Hell that it can be seen as an outreach of religious tolerance. It is an attempt to use the tolerance of our open society against us. The proposed Mosque-asaurus could be built pretty much anywhere else in America with no outcry at all. But the idea of putting it at the site of the most heinous act of Islamist terrorism is disgusting. It is not bigoted to think that, it is common freaking sense. I was against the use of governmental powers to stop it and the decision not to grant landmark status to the very ordinary building it will replace or to grant a permit to build it were exactly right. That is not the government's job. But the protests against it by citizens and interest groups are also exactly right and proper. National Review wrote an editorial pointing out the Islamist connections of the kind folks interested in furthering tolerance and also calling for trade unions to refuse to work on the project. That is perfectly acceptable dissent as enshrined in the 1st amendment. Abu Mookie of the Obama team's home think tank has one of the dumbest and most disingenuous critiques of this editorial I think it would be possible to write. He also shows his lefty political bent which was hardly hidden but now glares out as he marches in politically correct lockstep. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." This staff editorial in the National Review -- like so much of the rhetoric deployed in opposition to the proposed mosque near Ground Zero -- is disgusting. The passions expressed in it -- and it is, fundamentally, an argument based on emotion and not reason -- are a threat to American values and freedom. On the one hand, you would think "conservatives" would be pretty clear on matters related to the freedom to practice one's religion -- not to mention private property rights. But when that religion is Islam, what passes for "conservativism" these days apparently takes a vacation. Writing as a Christian, I am firmly within the majority in the United States. As a Protestant Christian, I am also within the majority. And as an Evangelical Protestant Christian, I belong to the largest subset of all Christians in the United States. I treasure the way the 1st Amendment protects my rights to worship. But I also understand that the 1st Amendment -- the "first draft" of which was written by one of my ancestors -- exists more to protect religious minorities than those of us in the majority. It's an amendment written with Huguenots and Quakers and Catholics in mind. Where the Bill of Rights really has its value is as a check against the tyranny of the majority. It's for times like these when the passions of Americans -- stoked by the memory of September 11th -- cause us to do and say things that spit in the face of the freedoms we claim to cherish. So much stupid, so little time. Let's start with his inclusion of the First Amendment somehow implying that the opponents of this mosque and National Review were trying to use the power of government to oppress a religious minority. Did you even read the editorial Mookie? Let me help you out. We will not appeal to the official powers to use the machinery of government to stop this project. We appeal, instead, to the sense of decency of the American Muslim community, and to its patriotism. They specifically reject the straw man you then attempt to pummel. WTF dude? They are asking the Muslims involved with this to understand that this cannot be seen as a simple free exercise of religion, it is too iconic a site, and they appeal to them as fellow Americans. How much more decent can you get than that. But Mookie is in full dudgeon and facts be damned he knows this is just right wing Christianists hating. Defending America starts with defending our values. "We" are America. And "we" are Christians and Jews and Muslims and Athiests. A movement to restrict the freedom of one of us to worship -- and a corresponding move to demonize a minority religion -- is an affront to us all. The only ones pushing their religions in this are the Islamists and Mookie. The editorial properly points out the extremist connections of the group pushing the mosque, but makes absolutely no statements that have anything to do with their right to worship, simply their antagonistic choice of location. The rest of his argument against NR exists only in his addled brain. I have long though Mook was over-rated and naive, This pitiful screed shows where his reasoning ability and political leanings collide in a cataclysm of dumbass.
Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Blackfive/~3/IMQcs1wZezo/ground-zero-mosque-idiocy.html
Posted
Aug 05 2010, 03:21 AM
by
BLACKFIVE