One of the worst culprits is Newt Gingrich, who compared Muslims to Nazis:
"Nazis don't have the right to put up a sign next to the holocaust museum in Washington," Gingrich insisted, speaking of the museum where just a year ago a guard was killed by a white supremacist trying to enter the building with a gun. Gingrich then went on to claim that "we would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor."
Outrageous! But unfortunately he is not alone. Beck, Palin, Limbaugh and the rest of the far-right chorus joined in. To my dismay, Senator Harry Reid and other Democrats succumbed as well. A bipartisan display of intolerance! These leaders are supposed to call for tolerance and understanding among people of different faiths. Instead they unleashed a blow to America's primary principle of freedom of religion.
President Obama decided to speak out, and said:
As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And 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. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are. The writ of the Founders must endure.
The reaction was simple. All the naysayers said, Of course, we believe in the freedom of religion, but building a mosque would be "insensitive" to those who have lost loved ones in the 9/11 attack. First, I'd like to know how far away the Park51 structure should be so that it would not be "insensitive" - 3 blocks, 5 miles, outside New York City, outside U.S.? Second, do you believe there would be as much "insensitivity" if a church or synagogue were built 2 blocks from Ground Zero?
President Obama was asked again the next day about Park51. This is what he said:
I was not commenting, and I will not comment, on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right that people have, that dates back to our founding. That's what our country is about.
Several pundits consider this to be backtracking. It's nothing of the sort. The president is saying that Muslims have the same right as anyone else to build a community center. When he says he will not comment "on the wisdom" he is saying that he, as a member of government, should not tell anyone what to do with reference to religion since we must have complete separation between church and state.
President Obama is clear and exactly right. And what he says should be bipartisan because President George W. Bush said the same thing:
In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on private character - on integrity, and tolerance toward others, and the rule of conscience in our own lives. Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people. Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before - ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Let's close the debate. Let's not use a mosque as a mask for intolerance. Let's allow - no, not allow, but encourage - Imam Rauf to build his community center. Let's show the world that America still believes in freedom of religion.
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