'Ground Zero Mosque': What Team Do You Want to Play On?

The signs are out.

The protesters are screaming.

Foam forms around the mouths:

"You can't worship like that here!"

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Am I talking about the NYC mosque protests or Westboro Baptist Church protests?

They really are the same thing:

• Group of people gets a bunch of signs,
• Goes to a place where people want to worship in a different manner,
• Lets out all their frustrations.

Sounds great, looks wonderful, doesn't it?

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The mosque issue is one where a line gets drawn in the sand. Either you are for it or you are against it. Those against it include proponents of the "moderate" or "reasonable" position of, "Well, they really should to move it."

Ask those "reasonable" people when this mosque may be built at this location. Are they answering with a fixed time?
There is no fixed time.

Ask those "reasonable" people where this mosque may be built now. Are they answering with a fixed place? What is the radius from Ground Zero beyond which Muslims may build?
There is no fixed place.

A right isn't granted to a people only when the majority says it is OK. A right may be exercised at any time or place.

Either you are for Freedom of Religion or you are against it. That is the line.

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If you are playing on the Westboro Baptist team on this issue, then no matter how quiet and reasonable-sounding you are, you are allowing the bigots across the country to score a big touchdown. Your position is allowing the more vociferous on your team the space to put the Muslims away.

Think about it: because of your voicing of the soft you-have-to-move-it opinion combined with the loud and angry Westboro crowd, you may actually get the Muslims to cow to the supposed majority in New York City. Congratulations.

Will we start this whole charade again when a group of Muslims wishes to rent space in the new World Trade Center (if it completes before the Rapture) for a prayer area?

Now when a group of Muslims wishes to open a mosque somewhere else, maybe in Tennessee or in your neck of the woods, those fighting the Muslims know they can beat these people back. Get the signs out, start screaming, and those people in the funny hats will go away.

You don't have to say anything. After all, it isn't like Muslims are Americans or anything.

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Now that you have set up a second-class citizenship status for Muslims (and don't kid yourself, because you have), how are we going to manage this?

Are we going to have special laws for practitioners of Islam?
Or will these series of laws apply to anyone non-Christian?
We can't leave Jewish people out, so they are in.

And what about the atheists? Are they "preferable" enough?
We'll vote on those guys.

Anyway, we need to set up a bunch of laws to allow people of the preferred faiths better access to the rights over those of the non-preferred faiths.

When you allow this type of pressure to be successfully applied to a group of Muslims, this is where we are going. It is not ridiculous to speculate on our future this way.

Can you say Nuremberg Laws?

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Is that the America you really want?

What team do you want to play on?