Un-American And Un-Constitutional

The Constitution, in its very First Amendment, guarantees all Americans "religious freedom" -- the right to follow any religion they want and to worship as they please (or to reject all religion if they want). The Founding Fathers considered this freedom to be extremely important. They had seen other countries try to impose a particular religion on their citizens (sometimes very violently), and some of those Founding Fathers had ancestors who came to this country to avoid such religious discrimination.

But there are those in this country today, especially on the religious right, who seem to have no respect for this nation's diversity or its Constitution. They would prefer a theocratic dictatorship, which would mandate christianity as the official religion and deny other religions the right to exist. A perfect example of this anti-Americanism can be seen in Kennesaw, Georgia (although it is not the only place where this christian bullying takes place).

The muslims in Kennesaw had requested permission from the city council to rent a building in a retail center as a temporary worship site (until a permanent site could be built). They expected to stay in that rented building only a couple of years -- and they agreed to the terms imposed (regarding parking and building occupancy). And it looked like there was no reason to deny them, especially since a christian group had been recently given permission to do the same thing (just last July).

But that was before the christian bigots found out about the muslim request. They blew their tops, and organized demonstrations demanding the muslim request be denied (see picture above). They put pressure on the city council -- and the council crumbled. They voted 4 to 1 to deny the permit needed by the muslims. And the council members who voted no, did so without discussion or a public justification for their vote.

The muslims are threatening to go to court, and if they do, they will win. It is a violation of the United States Constitution to treat them differently than any other religious group -- and that is exactly what happened here.

I'm sure these christian bigots think they have won a great victory for their religion. They haven't. All they have done is put their bigotry on public display, and show they don't believe in the historical diversity of the United States, or its Constitution. I'm also sure they consider themselves to be patriots. They aren't. They are Un-American.