RELIGIOUS FREEDOM FOR ALL
There has been a hue and cry from Christian groups opposing the construction of a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City. Christians have also been rabblerousing over the claim that Muslims were closing Madison Avenue every Friday for a prayer assembly. The White American Christian Oppressors (WACOs) invoke the constitutionally mandated religious freedom when it applies to Christians, yet they are all quite vocal about denying religious freedom for other faiths.
The WACOs cannot have it both ways. If the Christians can have a cross at Ground Zero (even though I think they shouldn’t), then the Muslims have the right to build a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero. As for the Muslims’ prayer assembly on Madison Avenue, the WACOs are simply lying. Once a year the Muslim Foundation has a Muslim Day parade that includes a gathering of Muslims at the corner of Madison Avenue and 41st Street for Zahur prayer. This has been an annual event since 1985. “Annual” means once a year!
The WACOs frequently lament, “If Muslims can pray on Madison Avenue , why are Christians banned from praying in public?” The answer … any legitimate group, religious or otherwise (including ‘gays’), can hold any legal event on designated public property, once they have paid fees, obtained permits, and reimbursed the city for security and cleanup, etc.
When it comes to public religious events, however, the WACOs have absolutely no room for complaint, when considering the biggest and grandest Christian event to take place on American soil, one that surpasses all others of all religions … the Papal visit.
Pope John Paul II visited the USA seven times, and most visits involved a multi-city itinerary. On his 1987 visit I was living in San Francisco, and virtually the entire city was shut down for most of the day. That scenario occurred in the other cities on his journey as well.
His Los Angeles sojourn alone attracted 300,000 spectators and required the use of 5800 police officers, countless Metropolitan Division personnel, 11 Air Support Division helicopters, one airplane, 4000 55-gallon drums every 20 feet along the route (filled with water, capped and sealed), 35 miles of rope strung from drum to drum with 10,000 wooden barricades placed in between, and 4250 feet of 5 foot high chain link fence installed at the Coliseum.
Despite that overwhelming amount of public space, public facilities, public personnel, public resources, public services, etc., all for a Christian event, the WACOs have the audacity to whine about being “banned from praying in public” and from “erecting religious displays on their holy days.” The Pope’s visit clearly exposes the fallacy of those complaints.
Yet this brings to light the biggest misconception that the WACOs have, their belief that the USA is a Christian country. IT IS NOT! The United States is a secular country, founded on the principle of religious freedom. In order to assure that freedom, the Founding Fathers (undoubtedly all Christian) made it clear in the Constitution that church and state must remain separate. That is a simple concept.
“Obama says we can’t have the National Day of Prayer, yet Muslims are allowed to block off Madison Avenue and pray in the street!” so the WACOs claim. First, n o one has banned a national day of prayer. Christians and all faiths can have as many days of prayer as they want, but it is unconstitutional for the government to sanction any, because the Constitution mandates the separation of church and state . Again, very simple.
Second, the Madison Avenue fallacy has already been debunked, but the WACOs need to understand that President Obama is the President of all Americans, not just Christian Americans. He has taken an oath (sworn on the Christian Bible no less) to uphold the Constitution. Surely you WACOs wouldn’t want the President to violate an oath that he took on your own Bible, would you?
“Tell me again,” the WACOs demand, “whose country is this? Ours or the Muslims?” This salacious question truly says all one needs to know about the WACOs. The USA was created on the foundation of religious freedom … therefore there is no national religion, and the United States is everyone’s country!
“Religious freedom” means that everyone has the legal right to practice whatever religion they choose, in any way they chose, as long as it does not involve illegal activities and/or inhumane rituals. That includes Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism/Taoism, Hinduism, Baha’i, Sikhism, Unitarian-Universalism, Rastafarianism, Scientology, Native American religious practice, and the list goes on. Another very simple concept … FREEDOM OF RELIGION FOR ALL!
Sixty-five years ago I was born a Christian, and I must have gotten it right the first time, because I have never needed to be “born-again”. For most of my life it has been clear to me that my only purpose on this planet is to express Love/God and Truth/Christ. Therefore, it is difficult to understand why so many of these so-called Christians, these WACOs, are filled to the brim with fear and hate. It clearly indicates that they have a grave lack of faith in their own religion, as well as a lack of faith in themselves.
What is it about Islam that makes the WACOs so desperately paranoid? Contrary to their overactive and warped imaginations, Islam, like Christianity, is a peaceful religion-although when I reflect on some of the savagery that has been and still is perpetrated on humankind throughout the centuries and the world in the name of the Christian God, it gives me pause. Just like Islam, Christianity has its own radical extremists, its own militant fundamentalists, and its own fanatic zealots (also known as WACOs).
If you question the veracity of that statement, perhaps you could get some insight from the families of the 168 men and women and children (including 19 children under the age of 6) whose bodies were blown to bits, and the other 850 men and women and children whose bodies were mutilated and whose lives and families were devastated … all victims of the Oklahoma City bombing by that “patriotic American” and “devout Christian” Timothy McVeigh; a man whom the WACOs can embrace as one of their own. A true WACO hero, I would imagine.
History shows that the WACOs have always needed some group to hate. First it was the Native Americans (most of whom they exterminated). Then the Chinese, the Jews in the 1940s, and Japanese-Americans during WW2, followed by the USSR and the Communists. Next it was the ‘blacks’ and now it’s the Mexicans and the Muslims, and it seems as though it is always open season on the homosexuals.
Rather than devoting their time and energy to disseminating erroneous propaganda and rabblerousing, they need to spend more time studying the Christian Bible, with a special focus on the Ten Commandments. Before they start polluting the internet and people’s minds with their fabrications, animosity and terror, they should ask themselves, “What would Jesus do?”
Jesus never espoused a doctrine of fear and hate, Jesus teaches Love and Truth. Jesus neither feared nor hated anyone, not even the Jews who crucified him. Pure Christians, true believers in Christ, embrace the Holy Trinity, NOT the Racist Trinity: BIGOTRY & HATRED & IGNORANCE.
Fear and hate is like a cancer that can infect anyone, regardless of their religion, and it was exactly that kind of fear and hate that led to the crucifixion of Jesus. It is not appropriate for any Christian to be taking part in the creation and/or distribution of any fraudulent propaganda that vilifies people of another faith.
“People are quick to say that they are Christian, but they have yet to follow the simple ethics of Jesus.” (From Religious Science by Ernest Holmes)