"Is it right or wrong???"

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mosque-Erade
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

It's simple enough, don't you think? Your religion is your own business, and you can build a mosque anywhere you can build a church or a synagogue. I don't know why the right-wing has such a difficulty understanding this simple concept: American Muslims have the same rights as you do.

Was this a good location for a Muslim cultural center? That's not my decision. Or yours. Or even the president's. The fact is, idiots are protesting mosques all around the country, so I think the location of this one is just an excuse for bigotry. It's going in a Burlington Coat Factory, for crissake, next to a strip club, and apparently you can't even see Ground Zero from there (it's two blocks away). What's the big deal?

The 9/11 attackers were Muslim, true, but have Christians never committed murder for their religious beliefs? Tagging the group with the actions of individuals is how bigots always treat minorities. But you'd be aghast if that was applied to you, wouldn't you? Should we restrict your rights because Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people when he bombed that federal building in Oklahoma City? Obviously, we can't trust white Christian men, right? Should we prohibit the building of Catholic Churches within a certain distance from schools and playgrounds because some priests have been pedophiles?

I have no liking for Islam, myself. I don't like any religion much, and Islam is one of the worst, as far as I can tell. But we have freedom of religion in this country. I'm free to criticize and even mock their religion, which I do, but I still support their right to believe anything they want. And we have freedom of speech and freedom of association, too. So no matter what you believe, you can get together with fellow believers and worship - or not - as you see fit. That's your right as an American, a right that applies to Christians and non-Christians alike.

I really don't understand the self-proclaimed "patriots" on the right. They claim to love this country, but they're oh so eager to destroy what makes America America. They have no use for freedom of religion (except their own) or the strict separation of church and state (as long as their belief is in the majority). They despise traditional legal freedoms, like habeas corpus and our longstanding prohibition of torture. Really, they're a lot like our enemies, aren't they? The America they want to create bears no relation at all to the America I love. And when they don't get their way in every little thing, they threaten secession! Some "patriots"!

Finally, I chose to quote Jon Stewart for the title of this post. He's right, that's the real question here. How has American news journalism declined this badly? Is it all a result of the financial success of Fox "News"? Journalists talk only of political repercussions. Is that what's really important here - and in every other issue, too? How about right and wrong? How about constitutional and unconstitutional? How about American and un-American?