Recently I posted a video of Herman Cain stating that he felt that Americans had the right to choose whether or not a mosque or any religious building can be built in their community.
It was pointed out to me that when dealing with Islam there is a worry about Sharia Law. This is an understandable fear as Sharia Law is the supreme law the Muslim world. It should not be a fear here as the Constitution is the supreme law of the land. The problem is, we have judges who use international law and even Sharia Law in deciding court cases. I am of the opinion that any judge who would use any law other than the Constitution in conjunction with existing local, state, and federal laws is unfit to serve on the bench. I would be outraged if a judge cited Sharia Law in any court case, but I would also be as outraged if a judge cited biblical law that went against our laws. For example, it would be just as wrong to cite Sharia Law in deciding a case as it would be for a judge to rule based on the book of Leviticus, if Leviticus conflicts with existing law.
Religion has its place in our society, but even religion cannot and should not be cited over our laws. If a law goes against your religion, you should obey your religion, however our courts should not decide based on that. If you believe it is always wrong to kill, you should never be compelled to take part in our nation’s defense. However, if your religion says you should kill someone who disagrees with you, that would be an infringement on someone else’s right to live so you cannot exercise your religion in that way.
Telling someone that they cannot have a house of worship does go against the Constitution. Someone can build a house of worship on their property. This is a right to private property and a freedom of worship issue. However, if that group intends on hurting someone, they would be infringing on the rights of others. At that point they should be jailed and dealt with. The problem is, there must be a crime committed or planned before you can just jail someone. Otherwise, there is no problem.
It is understandable that there is a fear of Islam. Islam is a mysterious religion to many of us in a Western Culture. That brings some fear. Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. also has a fear attached to it. Heck, even Roman Catholicism has some who fear it, as does Mormonism. Add to that mysterious nature the events of September 11 and you’ve got reason to be fearful.
One thing we have to be careful of is that we do not fear that every Muslim is a terrorist or wanting to replace the Constituion with Sharia Law. Regardless of your thought of what Islam says, that doesn’t mean every Muslim interprets it that way. Our Constitution does not grant rights to groups. It grants rights to all individuals. What we do to one group, may also be done to us later.
This brings us to the recent happenings in Oslo, Norway. A “fundamentalist Christian” (not my words, but the words being used in the media) went against the teachings of Jesus and killed more than 90 people. Back in 1995, 168 people were killed by another “fundamentalist Christian” (again, not my words).
If we curtail the rights of Muslims, we are in effect saying that if a religion poses some type of danger, it is okay to curtail their religious rights. Don’t think that this won’t happen. Society is becoming more secular. Europe became more secular and allowed the murder of millions of Jews. Don’t think the same cannot happen in the United States.
How do we stop this trend toward animosity of religion, especially Christianity? There are really only two ways. The first is a mass conversion a la the Great Awakening. The second is the expansion of liberty. As the meaning of the Constitution is twisted and eroded, we are allowing a path for us to face persecution in the future. We should never limit our liberty on that front.
I don’t mean to be a fear-monger. Fear is not healthy. Fear leads to emotional thought rather than rational thought. I do fear that people do not believe that any of this can happen in America. The problem is, it does happen. The free exercise of Christianity is regulated by the government every year as Christmas draws closer. People have been jailed for sharing their beliefs right here in the USA. Mobs do crazy things and if you think for one second that a large tragedy on the scale of 9/11 or larger would not turn the general population against Christians, you are sadly mistaken. All we can do is try to ensure that our Constitutional rights cannot be trampled on by a majority. That is what it means to be a constitutional republic.
