Quote:
Originally Posted by chefhottie25
i don't understand why there is a debate about this. the right to build the mosque is protected by the first amendment. the bill of rights doesn't just protect certain groups or people. it is the bill of rights for everyone.
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Yeah, no small number of conservatives appear to think that "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." has a hidden caveat of "unless said religion is Islam or some other minority religion and/or that religion is globally practiced by brown people with names we have trouble pronouncing correctly." When this center is built (and for ALL our sakes I hope it is) expect to hear talk coming from the right-wing that perhaps it is time to 'clarify' the meaning of the First Amendment. As much as I don't think it needs any clarification (it seems pretty straight-forward to me) I would, after a fashion, welcome the proposal and subsequent debate. Why? Because I believe that what no small number of the Republican base *mean* when they invoke the First Amendment is this:
"Congress shall make no law respecting any Christian denomination over any other Christian denomination or prohibiting the free practice of Christianity..."
Since it appears that is what conservatives *mean* it would be nice if they would just *say* that is what they mean.
Btw. the reason I say that this center should be built for all our sakes is that if it isn't built then Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah will have all of their recruiting propaganda written for them for the foreseeable future.
Cheers
Aj