Just Cause

Just as I feared, the anti-Muslim fomenting of Newt Gingrich and others has already incited hatred nationwide that has resulted in the arson of a planned Islamic center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  Glenn Greenwald has an insightful post about this tragedy here that highlights relevant background information such as Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Rasmey’s unjustifiable beliefs about the threat of Sharia law supplanting the Constitution around the country.  As Greenwald points out, the threat to our nation is not American citizens of the Islamic faith; it is American citizens intolerant of anyone with beliefs that differ from theirs who have been driven into a frenzied rage by the statements of Newt Gingrich and other respected political figures to the effect of, “There’s no reason for us to accept a mosque next to [insert your neighborhood here].”  When these statements are made by those with full knowledge that our Constitution protects these citizens’ rights to worship, it shows a reckless disregard for one of our country’s founding principles, famously stated by John Adams: We have “a government of laws and not of men.”  The result, vigilante acts attempting to impose the primacy of one religious class over another, was as clear to Newt Gingrich when he made those comments as it is today as Mosques and Qurans burn across the country.

The irony of all of this is not lost on me.  Here I am, arguing not that respected political figures should be barred from making such statements, but that they should refrain from doing so because they might, and indeed have, incite unnecessary violence.  This is the exact argument being made by those who oppose the construction of the Times Square mosque.  However, the fundamental difference in my mind is the intent of each party and the impact of their respective actions.   » Read the rest of this entry «

I don’t understand why all the talk about the construction of an Islamic center near ground zero is being framed as though there is something to debate.  There isn’t.  The Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment prohibits any governmental entity from blocking the construction of this place of worship.  There is no question; this is certain.  Why, then, are people like Newt Gingrich coming out and making claims like this:

Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington.  We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor. There’s no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center.

Newt Gingrich is a very intelligent man.  He holds a doctorate in European history.  He knows more than your average bear about the way our government functions.  What would compel a man of such stature to make a statement that is so blatantly false?  Newt Gingrich knows that he isn’t fooling you and me.  But I suspect Newt Gingrich also knows that he is absolutely fooling a large number of American citizens who aren’t well enough informed to see through his mischaracterizing the issue.  Let’s go to the play-by-play to break this one down. » Read the rest of this entry «