I’ve seen comments about this, mostly from the rightest of the right wing, that the current administration was “chipping away" America's moral foundation. What the hell?
I can understand the concerns about the economy (even if I’m not sold to the fact that right-wing measures would be more efficient than the left ones at repairing the economy). But moral foundation? What has the Obama administration done to destroy the moral foundation of the U.S.? I’m guessing those comments refer to what a vocal portion of the population perceives as "catering to the Muslims".
If that’s the case, I think something must be made clear: neither Obama nor his administration cater to the Muslims. At least, not in the pejorative sense meant by haters (who give anyone who is genuinely concerned and critical of the administration a bad name). America, and that’s in the Constitution, is supposed to be about freedom, and, among these lie the Freedom of Religion. The amount of negative comments on the Net about Obama not forbidding the building of a Mosque near Ground Zero and condemning the planned Koran burning is disproportionate, and is mostly caused by my no 1 enemy: ignorance.
The president is definitely damned if he does, and damned if he doesn’t. He chose to uphold the Constitution when he stated that the imam was in his right to build a Mosque in New York, two blocks away (whatever that means; is it 50 meters or 5 km?) from Ground Zero. He showed concern about the repercussions that the burning would have. Those are very logical conclusions; had he said the imam couldn’t build said Mosque, he would have been in the wrong, plain and simple. In fact, that would have been a breach of the Constitution, as he would oppose one's right of freedom of religion! Moreover, he said he would not pronounce himself on the wisdom of such building! As for the Koran burning issue, he did not infringe on any right; he would have if he had actually prevented the burning, but even if he had done so, it might have been justified in the sense that such action would have been meant to prevent hate speech.
The only way his actions regarding these matters can be considered an attack on the moral foundation or whatever of America is if you believe ALL Muslims are terrorists and anti-Americans and that Muslims are not American. If you truly believe it, if you truly believe that the millions of Muslims out there are out to get you, then I'm sorry to be bold, but you are ignorant.
Yes, there exists a huge problem – even a frigging huge problem - with actual relations with some Middle-Eastern countries. Yes, some evil people use Islam to foment hatred toward Christians, Jews and the Occidental world in general, and America in particular. However, place yourself in the shoes of a Muslim. What do you make of Pastor Terry Jones? He wants to burn the Koran. What do you make of George W. Bush's action? He attacked not one but two Muslim countries in a eight year term. What do you make of American soldiers who, through stress or bad intentions or simply bad leadership abuse Muslim civilians? Not all of them do, thank you, but some do. Looking back, what do you make of Crusades? Of the Inquisition? Of the Witch Hunts? If you were that Muslim and you would look at those acts, you'd think Christianity is a religion of war and hatred. And when a priest or a pastor would tell you otherwise, you’d think “Yeah right”.
But we have one advantage over the people in those countries. We have the possibility to learn easily. To enlighten ourselves and understand that brands do not matter. Not all Christians think alike, do they? The same goes for every religion on the globe. If you blind yourself to that fact, you’re no different from the people who are being misled in Afghanistan. At least they have an excuse, information is not as readily available and as objective as it is here, so it is harder to make up their mind. Aside from laziness, what’s YOUR excuse?
All this to say attacks such as these are illogical; no one is attacking the moral foundation of your country. But it is being chipped away by ignorance, intolerance, personal attacks and a rise of hatred. And the fault does not rest on the shoulder of the president…
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