What does Freedom of Speech mean to you? Is it something worth defending, or only worth defending when it isn't offensive to you personally? This is one of the biggest questions I've had to deal with in my life. As a writer, I've been preaching the gospel of Freedom of Speech since I could understand the concept. But at times, although its been very difficult for me, I've actually had to practice it as well. That's usually a lot harder to do.
I just received a call from my brother. He had just heard the news that they are planning to build a mosque at Ground Zero in New York. He was quite upset. And to be perfectly honest, I don't blame him. The thought nearly curdles my stomach. I am all for Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion, but a mosque? There? I don't see that as a powerful statement of forgiveness or a way to build bridges, I see it as a direct provocation to all Americans - even Muslim Americans. However, despite the way it makes me feel personally, I have to defend their right to build a mosque right there. It is important to the concept of Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion that they be allowed to do so.
When I was in the Navy back during Gulf War One there were a few virulent protesters in Hawaii who decided as a sign of protest to smash the personal vehicles of US servicemen. They called us warmongers, baby killers, that sort of thing. You can bet that we were not too happy with that. I dare say that there were many of us who wanted to go down and do some forceful realignment of their beliefs. But one of our Gunny Sergeants reminded us that we took an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America and that as part of that oath we had to defend the rights of those individuals who said the very things that we hated the most. These knuckleheads were trashing the very people who were protecting their rights to say the things they were saying. Though it seriously sucked, we swallowed our anger and went about our jobs. It didn't change the fact that we hated everything they were saying, but we had to defend their right to say it.
That's a pretty powerful thing to absorb at 18. But it has taught me to be even more protective of one of our most sacred rights as Americans. There are times when I think we allow this freedom to go too far... but those are exactly the times that those freedoms were created for in the first place.
So, do we practice what we preach even if it breaks our hearts to do so? That, ultimately, is the question.
And as citizen practicing my rights, I really hope those people reconsider the building of a mosque at Ground Zero. I can see nothing good coming of that.
3 comments:
And to take that one step further, based on our shared Christian worldview, we need to extend grace. We may disagree with the situation on a personal level, yet we are called to extend charity and grace. Putting that into practice can be extremely hard, yet that's what Jesus modeled for us in His life and in His parables.
I know I'm nowhere close, but I'd like to think that I'm a little bit better about it today than I was yesterday.
I appreciate what you say here, and I agree with your thoughts about freedom of speech.
Frankly, the idea of a mosque being built at ground zero has some of the earmarks of an urban myth, so I did some research. Turns out that there are indeed plans to build a mosque and community center NEAR ground zero. It was announced back in December as far as I can tell. Here's a fairly even handed report on it: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/07/new.york.ground.zero.mosque/index.html
So the story needs to be told carefully, since, as you point out, it is liable to raise some hackles. It's not as though the memorial to 9/11 will be a mosque built on the site of the World Trade Center. It is blocks away.
As the CNN story points out, Islam is an American religion. I'd venture to guess that a very high proportion of Moslems in America are black, not of Arabic descent. I would defend their right to build a house of worship on land that they own. As to the probable public reaction to this, I would hope that cool heads prevail along the lines of the Lower Manhattan Community Board. Although the 9/11 attackers were Arabs and Moslems, the attack was not perpetrated by the whole group of Arabs and Moslems. A Moslem community center in the heart of Manhattan could be a source of reconciliation and understanding.
Obviously, the right to offend/be offensive is what free speech is all about. Further given that any "offense" is specific to the hearer/reader it is wholly subjective. A system which determines the extent of rights based upon the subjective beliefs of some third person who is not exercising the right in question is illusory.
That said, there is a difference in the mosque situation. The government is allowed to place reasonable restrictions on the exercise of speech provided it's not content based. Thus, zoning restrictions which may have an effect on speech, (think billboard regulations), are routinely upheld if, they are applied across the board. Had the powers that be in New York designated the surrounding blocks at Ground Zero a memorial, and restricted all building, I think the restriction would be upheld.
Cheers.
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