When the First Amendment
guarantees religious freedom in the United States, it does it by stating that “Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Of course, it is tacitly understood that such
free exercise of religion must exclude any religion which advocates harm to
anyone who does not follow its tenets. A
religion which encourages its followers to do that does not deserve the
protection of the First Amendment.
Extreme
versions of Islam which consider those who do not accept it as “infidels,” deserving
of punishment, or any faith which justifies the murder of heretics, fits into
this category. During the Crusades,
Christians tried, unsuccessfully, to recapture Jerusalem from the Muslims. As they marched across Europe, they had no
qualms about murdering non-Christians, particularly Jews who did not accept
Jesus as the Messiah, along the way, along with anyone else they considered to have
heretical beliefs. The historic conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism
was also a bloody one. Believers in such
violence today do not deserve the protection of the First Amendment. The
murderers of doctors who perform abortions, for example, do not deserve the
protection of the First Amendment when they claim their actions were merely acts
following the dictates of their religion.
When
I am in a crowd, at a theatre, concert hall or sporting event, or even on the
street or in a shopping mall, it is hard to identify the religion of those
around me. Of course, sometimes Muslim
women can be identified by head covering and Jewish men by the wearing of a small
skull cap, but outside of this, we do not usually wear our religion on our
sleeves.
Ultra-Orthodox
Jews, whose religious observance calls for them to exist as much as possible
outside of mainstream society, dress in a very distinctive manner, and are
thereby distinguishable by their attire on those occasions when they are out in
the general population. This visibility
might be a reason why most attacks on Jews by anti-Semites, it seems, involve
Orthodox Jews, even though they amount to no more than ten percent of the
nation’s Jewish population. Similarly,
attacks on bearded and turban-wearing Sikhs, who are not even Muslim, might be
prompted by their appearance, which misleads ignorant anti-Muslims. These vile acts are intended for everyone of
the faith being attacked, whether or not their religious affiliation is
conspicuous. When a Hasid is attacked in
Monsey, N.Y., it is equally an attack on all Jews, even those without black
hats, beards and payot (sidecurls) and who believe themselves to be
assimilated.
What
we need, in addition to strong laws aimed at reducing gun violence, is more
education as to what religious freedom is all about and what the First
Amendment protects. As for those whose
hatred of other faiths, even if for social or economic reasons, in addition to
religious reasons, leads them commit acts of violence, they should be punished
to the fullest extent allowed by law.
Otherwise, the First Amendment is diminished.
Jack Lippman
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