It's the FIRST amendment for a reason...

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

Well, I'm glad we cleared that up. If you've been half paying attention the last few weeks, you would think that the greatest threat to our country is at 45 Park Place, the proposed Islamic community center near Ground Zero, and not salmonella-tainted eggs, a growing national debt, deplorable public education system, or stretched-way-too-thin national defense. The fact that this is even a subject worthy of discourse is embarrassing. I refuse to call it 'civil discourse' because it's been anything but. 

Newt Gingrich is drawing comparisons to the Holocaust. Sarah Palin is so sickened by it words don't even exist in the English language to express her disgust. Funny how, when sizing up potential SCOTUS nominees, they feel the need to call out anyone who's not a strict constructionist. But when it comes to actually honoring the letter and intent of the First Amendment, they want to apply it only to those who actually share their same religious beliefs. 

Right-wingers would argue that we shouldn't allow a mosque to be built since churches can't be built in Saudi Arabia. I kind of dig our republic (or at least the republic our founding fathers envisioned), and I'm not in any hurry to live in a theocracy. What was it that Jesus said about blessing those who persecute you? You can't hold up the Statue of Liberty, with the inscription "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free", as a symbol of freedom and then tell someone you won't respect their right to protection under the First Amendment. As Keith Olbermann so eloquently pointed out , one pretense under which we went to war in Iraq was to liberate the Iraqi people - Muslims - the very religious denomination some are protesting against.

You can question the judgement of whether Ground Zero is an appropriate venue for the community center. But what you can't question is the right that exists to build it there. It's also wrong to cast all Islamic people as terrorists. Would I want someone to cast me in the same light as a member of the KKK simply because both parties claim to be Christian. Yes, Christians were killed on September 11th. But, so were Jews, Buddhists, atheists, and even Muslims. So, instead of waging a fierce battle over something that should be a complete non-issue, shouldn't we be celebrating the fact that we live in a country that values different cultural, racial, and religious heritages - or at least I thought we did.

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart and especially the hearts of the people of this land, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.