On Wednesday (2/3/2016), President Obama visited a mosque for the first time while in office. I applaud his visit and his remarks against bigotry toward Muslims, but when he talked about religious freedom, people who don’t subscribe to any religion seemed not to be included.
President Obama gave a speech about his plans to deal with the latest Middle East based terrorist group called ISIS or ISIL depending on how much fear mongering you need. While ISIL is based on a perverted version of Islam, the President shouldn’t be using a ‘No True Scotsman’ argument to point it out. It isn’t his job to decide if a group is following a particular religion correctly or not.
The President spoke on September 10th in a nationally televised address about his plans to “to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as ISIL.” However one part of his speech really bothered me.
Two recent church and state stories once again prove that some Christians in this country only believe religious freedom counts if you’re a Christian. Debate over a Defense Department budget bill in Congress and Hecklers at a Muslim Group’s Event In Tennessee shows there are still people on the wrong side of history. This is why we have to remain vigilant against attempts by bigots to violate the separation of church and state.
On Wednesday while Congress was debating a large defense authorization bill, an amendment was offered to allow non-theists to join the armed forces chaplaincy. The reaction from the Christian bigots was intense:
One of the most ridiculous stories that comes up when talking about separation of church and state is the constant complaints of Christian persecution from right wingers. Gary Bauer, president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families and a failed US Presidential candidate, tries hard to claim that Christians are hurt more than Muslims in this country.
I think if the new Congress holds hearings on the ‘Radicalization’ Of American Muslims then they also need to include the radicalization of so-called Patriots like Jim David Adkisson, Byron Williams, Scott Roeder, and Richard Poplawski among others.
This can’t be good. A Christian Zionist group called Proclaiming Justice to the Nations is paying the legal fees of one the plaintiffs in a lawsuit trying to prevent an expansion of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro Tennessee. While there is nothing wrong with suing a local government over zoning issues the Christian group is trying to argue that Islam is not a religion. Christians seem to have a problem when the first amendment gets in the way.