...as a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country. 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 unshakable..
Obama didn't just stand up for the legal right of the group to build the Islamic center. He voiced powerful support for their moral right to do so as well, casting it as central to American identity. ... Obama went much further than [to acknowledge the legal rights of the project's backers]. He asserted that we must "welcome" and "respect" those of other faiths, suggesting that the group behind the center deserves the same, and said flat out that anything less is un-American.
But just when the professional left thought they had something to cheer about, Obama "clarified" his stance with this:
I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding.
We really didn’t need Obama to tell us that we have freedom of religion in this country. If a message of religious freedom was the essence of what Obama meant to communicate on Friday, his statement was entirely superfluous. We Americans will cherish and defend our First Amendment rights whether or not Obama chooses to acknowledge or to “believe” in them.
Does anyone seriously believe that religious freedom will have been abrogated when the fight over the GZ mosque is finally settled? I, for one, know of no one who wants to violate the Bill of Rights with their opposition to the GZ mosque.
Bottom line: The conflict over the GZ mosque is NOT a fight over religious freedom. The dispute over the GZ mosque is a fight about abuses of that freedom. It’s a high-stakes debate about a group that claims that it wants to foster forgiveness and reconciliation, but has chosen to do so with an irresponsible, self-defeating approach that has alienated 70% of the country.
Put this in perspective. When someone like Fred Phelps shows up to disrupt and desecrate a solemn memorial, do we mark the occasion with a cheer for First Amendment rights? No, if we have a shred of decency, we recoil in disgust when we observe that kind of behavior.
Obama could have chosen to point out how stupidly the Cordoba House supporters are acting. Alternatively, he could have quietly ignored their antics. Instead, he chose to go off on a tangent about the importance of our First Amendment rights. If that’s really what Obama thinks this Ground Zero debate is about, then I submit that Obama has all of the sophistication and leadership skills of a third grader.
Cross-posted at Left Coast Rebel
h/t: Memeorandum
Update:
3 comments:
Don’t you just love it when these libs tell you that “Muslims also were among the 3000 people who died that day while at work in the towers. Are they also to blame for it?”
Iv’e been hearing that crap for an argument for weeks now. I wasn’t buying it then and I ain’t buying it now…… Let us be clear: al-Qaeda killed nearly 3000 people on that day. Muslim or not! I am not against the mosque per se, but I am concerned with the unmistakable message of Muslim triumphalism accompanying it. It has been said the mosque will be a place for peace and reconciliation. If so, then why the name “Cordoba”? The Cordoba name is reference is an obvious declaration of Muslim triumphing over the West. It would be like proposing to build a Christian church directly in the heart of Hiroshima and calling it the Enola Gay initiative. Where does the spirit of Freedom of religion end, and rubbing salt into the wound, and slapping us in our faces by insisting. Where the hell were these gentle folks all these years, why weren’t they condemning the “Extremists” Muslims ?
If you really think about it, the Muslims that were killed on that day should feel the same way! We hear all day long about the Muslims who preach how it was extremists that bombed the twin towers. Well yes it was the Muslims , and who knows who these Muslims that are so hot on this project are! Maybe they are “Extremists” Muslims and maybe not. I personally don’t care. I don’t want it there
I think part of the problem is how the conservative agrument is being made; holding up signs that say when they build churches in Mecca they will allow a mosque at ground zero isn't helping. That is being seen as saying if they can be intolerant so can we. Which doesn't help anyone.
Charles Krauthammer wrote a very impassioned article on the matter that was well thought out and made sense.
If you have not read it, you should.
Another thing that is not getting the media attention that it should be (shocker, I know) was the tweet response from the Iman to Gutfeld about the gay bar proposal. I don't know the exact wording, but it something along the lines of if you don't understand Muslim sensibilities than you can't build bridges. Well, they certianly aren't understanding the sensibilibties of most New Yorkers.
Hello Right Click
Mike Stopa just published a blog post stating that he would not want a mosque in his neighborhood.
It got featured at this cool pro-Israel blog.
http://llphfreedom.blogspot.com/2010/08/two-comments-on-issue-of-mosques-by.html
Every day its something new with this president.
Shredder of mass,
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