Mark Stevens is an attorney who lives and practices in Galveston, Texas. We've been friends for a long time. This Guest Op-Ed was in today's issue of the Galveston County Daily News. He's responding to a column that was written by one of the paper's reporters, Cathy Gillentine.
It's one of the most learned pieces on what the Constitution says about religious freedom and what the Koran says about Jesus.
Slap at Muslims ‘simply nonsense'
BY Mark W. Stevens
Contributor
Published January 8, 2010
Cathy Gillentine certainly has the right to speak up for her beliefs, but others have the right and perhaps a civic obligation to challenge some of the statements in her column "Strange news adds up as year winds down" (The Daily News, Dec. 28).
Ms. Gillentine wrote that the Constitution didn't give us freedom "from" religion. That is precisely what the Constitution guaranteed, and it's a good thing. In providing that no religion shall be "established," the Framers made sure we'd never have a state religion and religious beliefs would be left to the individual's conscience. They also guaranteed that nobody can buttonhole children at school and "persuade" them to adopt any religious viewpoint.
Ms. Gillentine can believe what she wants and preach all she wants, in any forum except one - she may never seize the reins of government to promote her religious beliefs, in any degree. Nobody else can, either.
The irony is that the Establishment Clause mainly was intended to protect Christians from other Christians. The Framers were well versed in the tragic history of their homelands. In the 16th and 17th centuries, England and Ireland endured bloody purges and wars between "Christians" who called themselves Catholic and others who styled themselves Protestant. France, Holland and Germany, among others, were wracked by religious strife between Christians of various flavors. The Founding Fathers wisely left that sort of thing in the old countries.
When any religious belief is coupled with the assertion its adherents should override the constitutional separation of church and state, you approach the sort of self-assured fanaticism that stoked the bonfires of the Inquisition, lighted Hitler's crematoria - and brought us the horrors of 9/11. Ms. Gillentine is certainly not that kind of person, but I hope she and others will realize what their words can do when adopted by extremists.
Ms. Gillentine's slap at Muslims was simply nonsense. Noting that a small house from the time of Jesus had been unearthed, she speculated Muslims living there now "don't much care for it."
It so happens Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses - and yes, even Jesus - are all regarded reverently in the Koran. Muslims are taught in the Koran those "Old Testament" figures are prophets, but regard Mohammad as the last and greatest prophet and, in their view, the true messenger of God.
The Koran records Jesus was born as a miracle of God, without having an earthly father. Jesus is said in the Koran to be in Heaven with God. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the only woman actually named in those verses, and is mentioned more often there than in the Bible.
Ms. Gillentine's call to override the Constitution in the name of her faith is probably the kind of talk that inspired Matthew 6:6 - when you pray, do it in a closet.
My apologies to the many law-abiding Muslims out there if I got any portion of their faith and teachings wrong. My apologies, too, for the many undeserved insults that they and their children have endured since 9/11.
Still, Ms. Gillentine's article isn't, as they say, utterly without redeeming social importance. I'm sending a copy of it to my teenage son - along with a father's letter hoping that he will never harbor such corrosive views.
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BILL CHERRY, REALTORS
DALLAS - HIGHLAND PARK
Since 1964
214 503-8563
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Thanks for sharing that, Bill. Many of us choose to interpret laws to fit our personal preferences, whether their origin is our Constitution or scripture. We all need to take a closer, less biased look.
Interesting post. In the end our framers were trying to protect people from State run religion. Now the State is protecting religious groups from other groups that want to have there views institutionalized. We have turned the role of the State in these matters upside down
I read Ms Gillentine's article in the Galveston News also, and agree completely with your friends charaterization of her views as 'corrosive. I'm glad they published his counterpoint commentary.