Islam and Freedom of Religion

A couple of weeks ago I read a column in World magazine that has had me thinking about the Ground Zero Mosque and freedom of religion. Here it is. In the article, Joel Belz recounted a time as a young man when he and a group of friends made a curiosity visit to a small country church where there were going to be snake handlers. Coincidently, at the same time the county sheriff showed up. He announced that, “the U.S. Bill of Rights did not include the right to endanger the lives of worshippers.”

Next Joel reminded us of November 18, 1978 when over 900 people died in a mass suicide at the hands of the “Rev.” Jim Jones. The group had been in California before moving to Guyana. A couple days before the deaths, the “county sheriff” showed up in the form of Congressman Leo Ryan. Ryan said, “these folks have the right to practice whatever weird religion they want. But there are some limits." At the end of his visit, Ryan and several others who were with him were shot to death. Soon after, the Kool-Aid was passed out and people either drank or were forced to drink.

So what about “freedom of religion”? Did anyone complain that these people should be left alone and that the government was abusing its power? What about when the government told the Mormons that polygamy wasn’t acceptable in this country? Would we tolerate a religion that wanted to practice human sacrifice? How about if sex with children was a deeply held religious belief?

The article concludes with this:

…Americans have always made room for common sense—even for what we call guaranteed rights. That's why we've said it's OK to limit the "religious rights" of snake handlers and cultish weirdos.

But doesn't such limitation of Muslims' rights prove that we're bigots—that we're really a nation of Islamophobes? No, it simply reminds us that in a world where Muslims just last week barbarically stoned a man and a woman to death; where the week before they shot and killed a selfless eye doctor and his team; where even now it's hard to name a single predominantly Muslim country where construction of a Christian church is allowed—in such a world, common sense says there's room to call in the county sheriff and let him ask a few questions.

That makes a lot of sense to me. I know it’s a hard issue. We worry that if we allow the government or anyone else to tell the Muslims they can’t build this mosque where they want to then soon the government will be telling Christians what they can or can’t do.

Think about this: Islam is making inroads into nations where “freedom of religion” is held sacred. With that freedom they begin their takeover. When it is complete, Shariah Law rules and opposition isn’t tolerated. Here is what the Quran says: “If they turn against you, you shall fight them, and you may kill them when you encounter them in war. You shall not accept them as friends, or allies.” Sura 4:89. That doesn’t sound like we are going to be able to peacefully coexist. As Joel reminded us in his article, just look around the world at what the Muslims do when they are in control or trying to gain control. Is that the “freedom or religion” we want here in America?

So to broaden the subject, I say it’s time to wake up. If we don’t rouse ourselves and start to fight, Christians will soon lose their rights regardless of what happens to the mosque. A good example is the forcing of the acceptance of homosexuality that is barreling toward us. The homosexual agenda is to silence opposition by defining it as hate-speech. It’s not just Islam that is the problem. What once made America great is fading into a distant memory. It’s too easy to take the rights we have for granted. It took a fight to bring this country into existence and it will take a fight to keep it on the right track.

What is happening at Ground Zero with the mosque is symbolic of many other problems in this country. As we remember the slaughter that happened nine years ago – on our soil, may we get a better understanding of how our enemy is approaching; our lives and freedoms depend on it.

Philip