Has Hysteria Obfuscated the True Meaning of "Freedom of Religion"?

When this country was first conceived—for it was conceived less as a physical state and more as an idea of what a good country could be—the Founding Fathers well remembered the history of Western Europe in general and British history in particular. They had learned a lesson from history, a rare occurrence indeed as most often, the errors of history are endlessly repeated. What had they learned? Religious intolerance or dominance led to wars, both foreign and domestic. Persecution became legitimized under the guise of religion. Many suffered and many died because others believed that they had God on their side.

It is no surprise then that the First Amendment not only includes Freedom of Religion but also begins with it.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

What then are we to make of all of the concern over where a mosque or Muslim cultural center may be built? Are we a Christian nation as some proclaim? Our Founding Fathers were quite specific when saying that we are not. Even though the vast majority of early American settlers were Christian, the Bill of Rights was written to guarantee that the majority belief could not deny the beliefs of the minority. In one of our first treaties as a new nation, a treaty written during the presidency of George Washington and signed during the presidency of John Adams, this nation’s earliest leaders gave no doubt as to how they saw the role of religion in American politics. Please note the Treaty of Tripoli signed in 1796.


“Annals of Congress, 5th Congress

Article 1. There is a firm and perpetual peace and friendship between the United States of America and the Bey and subjects of Tripoli, of Barbary, made by the free consent of both parties, and guarantied by the most potent Dey and Regency of Algiers….


“Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen*; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan* nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries...."


“Signed and sealed at Tripoli of Barbary the 3d day of Junad in the year of the Hegira 1211— corresponding with the 4th day of November, 1796"

(*Mussulmen”—This is how non-Muslims referred to Muslims at this time.
“Mohametan nations”—Nations where the citizens followed the teachings of Muhammad.)

I, too, have a reasonable fear of religious extremists, those who murder others in the name of religion with the surety that God is pleased with their actions. The followers of Osama bin Laden justified their actions with the belief that Allah would reward them in Heaven and because Allah had commanded them to kill infidels—anyone not sharing their belief system. Yes, these were murderous Islamic extremists. But not all Muslims are like Al Qaida. Let us not forget that over 50 of those who died when the terrorists flew planes full of passengers into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and on the passenger-aborted mission to fly into the White House were peaceful followers of Islam. Muslims were among first responders; they were working in the Pentagon and in the World Trade Center; they were passengers on those planes. The victims of 9/11 included some who practiced a far different Islam than that of the 9/11 attacking extremists.

Proponents of religious views who believe that God is telling them that they are members of His army and that they must kill in His name are not restricted to Islam. Let us not forget the myriads of people who were killed in the name of Christianity from the Crusades to the Inquisition to a Right to Life believer who murdered a doctor in his church. Let us not forget the thousands dying today because they are Sunni rather than Shi’ite Muslims or Arabs rather than Jews. Need I go on? I would venture to say that more have died in the name of religion than almost anything else. It is remarkable that we now hear people ginning up hatred in the name of religion be they Muslim or Christian or any other religion. Is it not absurd that people throughout history have killed while firmly believing that God was on their side and their side only? Bob Dylan makes this point so eloquently in one of his songs, “With God on Their Side.”

“The Second World War came to an end
We forgave the Germans and then we were friends
Though they murdered six million in the ovens they fried
The Germans now too have God on their side” www.songlyrics.com

Or, for a more revered voice, I give you Thomas Jefferson’s views on the same subject:

“Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.” ---Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782

If we allow ourselves to proclaim that we fervently believe that the moderate Imam who wants to build a mosque within two blocks of Ground Zero may do so legally but decry their doing so in an attempt to get them to build it somewhere else, do we really believe in Freedom of Religion? How close is too close? If I am a Jew, may I decide how close a Christian church may be built next to me? Unless we want to allow the murderous 9/11 attackers to win in the end, we have to remember who we are and what we believe. Al Qaida well knew that they could not bring the entire U. S. to its knees by attacking the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and even the White House, had they been successful in that attempt. What they hoped—and what they now may see happening--is that our fear of them—the other—would cause us to destroy ourselves from within through fear.

Edward R. Murrow proclaimed while going after Eugene McCarthy’s campaign of labeling people communist sympathizers or “fellow travelers’: “We are not descended from fearful men.”

Throughout much of our history, Americans have not been a fearful people. We fought the British to become a nation and again to remain a nation. Pioneers crossed wide rivers and steep mountains, going deeply into unknown territory in order to make us a nation spanning from sea to shining sea. We sent men to the moon because we believed that we could. Why are we now cowering because a mosque may be built near Ground Zero? What message are we sending to our Muslim allies? To Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait? What message are we sending to law abiding American citizens who happen to practice Islam? What are we saying to those who have seen America as the haven for religious tolerance? Have we become a people so fearful that we cannot allow our first right in the Bill of Rights to be upheld?

Thomas Jefferson may have said it best when he referenced what they meant by the wording of the First Amendment:

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State."

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Danbury Baptist Association, CT., Jan. 1, 1802

Those words leave no wiggle room as to what those words mean in the First Amendment. Let us not allow fear to obfuscate them now.

More importantly, let us not forget the words of Benjamin Franklin: “Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”