Frank Borelli
Editor In Chief
New American Truth
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Ever since the attacks of September 11th, 2001, the Muslim faith – the religion of Islam – has seemingly been at the forefront of societal attention. While some followers of Mohammed and Allah use their faith as an excuse or justification to commits acts of crime and terror, other Muslims live “mainstream” lives absent of violence and embracing tolerance. In the news of late – here only a few days before the 9th anniversary of the September 11th attacks – there are two controversial subjects: the building of a mosque a couple blocks from Ground Zero in New York City and the burning of the Koran by a minister in Florida.
Originally referred to as a “Mega-Mosque”, then called an Islamic Center, and now being reported by several mainstream medai outlets as a Religious Community Center, the building is slated for construction just two blocks from Ground Zero. Some consider this insensitive to the families who lost loved ones in the terrorist attacks which destroyed the World Trade Center Towers and several surrounding buildings. Others support the effort citing freedom of religion and the tolerance mandated by our First Amendment. I see both sides of this argument and wanted to weigh in.
It’s my opinion that the Muslim faith is primarily one of peace, friendship and tolerance. The terrorist who pervert the Koran to justify their murders and other crimes are no better or worse than those who use the Bible to justify their murders and crimes. Pursuing peace through murder in the name of God – any god – makes no sense and I don’t believe such action can be morally supported by any religion. This, of course, begs the question about when pacifism should stop and defense begin. The question is its own answer: ATTACKING in the name of your god is, in my opinion, immoral and illegal. DEFENDING yourself against a religion that is being violently thrust upon you is both moral and legal in my mind.
That said, I condemn the terrorists and fanatical Muslim followers much as I condemn the terrorists and fanatical Christian followers: the key term in both is fanatical.
Understanding that, I have no objection to this Religious Community Center being built within two blocks of Ground Zero. I believe that if the Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf truly wants to heal wounds and bring faiths together in an atmosphere of tolerance and understanding, he would make part of the structure a memorial to those lost in the attacks of September 11th, 2001 – and I’m NOT talking about the 19 terrorists who died that day. If Imam Rauf truly wants to grow the understanding and friendship between people of different faiths – as he claims in his recent editorial then the structure must include a permanent dedication to religious peace, religious tolerance, a commitment against violence in the name of any religion and a memorial to all those killed in the World Trade Center attacks – minus the terrorists.
Now, let’s move south to Florida… So far, the Vatican, the New York City Police Department, the Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have all spoken out in condemnation of Reverend Terry Jones’ plan to burn a Koran / Quran / Qu’ran (pick your spelling) on September 11th this year. He has declared it “International Burn-A-Quran Day” and as a result has received over 100 death threats and is now wearing a gun for self-protection. General David Petraeus even took the rare step of a military leader voicing a position in a domestic matter and said that this action would increase danger to our troops serving in Afghanistan and around the world.
Read this all the way through before you get upset with me and close the page…
Let me say I think the good Revered Terry Jones is a moron. In my opinion, burning the Quran / Koran to protest the actions of fanatical Muslim terrorists is like burning the Bible to protest White supremacists. Both groups have twisted the words and meaning of the holy texts and destroying one copy (or 1000 copies) of that holy text will have absolutely zero impact on the group in question. If anything it will serve to further inflame them and greater acts of violence, terrorism and crime will occur. As I said: I think this is a stupid thing to do.
That said, I also see this is protected by the First Amendment and I defend Rev. Jones’ right to do something stupid. If it’s legal for people to burn the Bible; if it’s legal for people to burn our American flag; then it must be legal for Rev. Jones to burn as many copies of the Quran / Koran he can get his hands on.
To all those who are criticizing Rev. Jones’ actions – like Holder and Clinton – I’d point out that he has as much right to do this as Imam Rauf does to build the mosque / religious community center in New York. We don’t necessarily have to like either one of them – but we can’t agree to one and deny the other. Either you favor religious freedom and freedom of expression or you don’t. You can’t have it both ways.
To all those who are angry that Rev. Jones is doing this and they are offended that he would dare insult an entire populace by burning their sacred book I say: Welcome to my world. Now you know how I feel every time I see someone burn an American Flag, the Bible or any other book. You too have to “suck it up”. You cannot believe that it’s okay to burn the American Flag in protest but then say, “Wait… that’s our Holy Book. It’s protected.” Uh, uh. One or ther other: freedom of expression? or protected symbols?
Folks, the First Amendment was written into our Constitution for a very good reason. We don’t have to like it all the time, but we have to recognize that it applies all the time – even when what’s protected is something we don’t like or don’t agree with. That’s just how it is…
and I spent too many years in uniform defending it to watch it be destroyed now over political debate or religious disagreement. Our founding fathers built the country on a foundation of religious tolerance. How can we claim to be patriots while condemning someone’s free practice of their religion? It doesn’t work.
I don’t care if you worship the fire bellied toad or Gumby. That’s your business. It’s not my business until you start killing for it or start forcing it on me or mine.
Make sense? All comments and thoughts appreciated….
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