Almost every country trumpets Free Exercise of Religion. Communist China did. Words are easy. Soaring language is nice in definiing document. The real test for political and civil rights is protection of the minority. I became a lawyer b/c my mom was expelled from high school for not saluting the flag. No one is denying that there is not tension between a Western view and the Moslem world.
Why don't people worry about the lack of religious freedom in China? Hindus dominate Indian society. Why no concern for Indian immigration to the US. Moslems provide a boogey man. I've known many Moslems living in NY. They are NO threat. A woman banned from wearing a burqa infringes my personal rights. The Constitution is a living document, not a sterile document in the National Archives. It must be written in our hearts and defended with our actions. Gore did not start a civil war when he lost Bush v. Gore. Dred Scott is the most ignoble Supreme Court decision of all times. It sparked the Civil War. Yet Americans obeyed it. Korematsu was another disaster. It upheld the internment of loyal Japanese American citizens during WWII. When it was argued, solid evidence existed from military officials that Japanese Americans were never a threat. There were spies but not these people. People obeyed the order.
We are a nation of laws and principles or a chaotic mess of shifting popular values. Supreme Court justices frequently believe the Court is wrong. The belief is that we have more freedom in a nation of laws than a nation of passions.
This is the cause of my life. I would die for it. Hopefully, it won't be necessary. Living in lower NY, 9/11 affected me so globally. I flinched before my mind was conscious of a miitary plane overhead. Half my fire house perished. I dated, worked, shopped, did dry cleaning at the World Trade Center. There was no escape from grief b/c it was so public. One of my biggest fears was using a taxi again. Most of the drivers are Middle Eastern. I was so furious that I feared I would screech and maybe strangle. In the past, I had some shouting matches. If a woman politely asks for a certain route, their manhood is often triggered. Some of them are not even frightened by promises to report them so they are fined. I fretted. During the aftermath, I also had to go to Bellevue for medical treatment. The main trauma center for the city had thousands of flyers of the missing with votive candles blzing on a temporary construction wall. Two weeks from the attack, Bellevue was as crowded as a busy subway stop. A woman was in the crowd with heavy burqa. All you could see were the eyes. No one noticed. America is defined by such freedom. Finally, I hailed a taxi. He was an Egyptian college student. Very nice. Tension existed for a few minutes. Soon we had an animated conversation.
Focus on specific instances of intolerance from a few people who happen to be Moslem, just as there always have been a few Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists who are intolerant. I grew up being told Russians who kill me and deny any right to worship. Interestingly, as soon as the Communists fell, the Russian Orthdox Church emerged, stronger than ever. Propaganda is propaganda. It serves a legitimate purpose. Radical Moslems pose a threat but the marketplace of ideas is the place to engage them. Denying ourselves the rights countless Americans died preserving is pointless. We are shooting ourselves.
