Dear Acts.17 Apologetics.
A friend sent me a link to the collection of video clips produced by your Acts.17 Apologetics Christian activist group and I read all the material and watched all the video clips that show your group entering a gathering of Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan recently to confront the Muslims and ask questions designed to provoke them. Your actions got you evicted from the premises and arrested and your group is taking the position that your basic freedom of speech was violated. I find all this very disturbing and the legal implications for all this are quite serious on several levels. I understand you are appealing on constitutional grounds and it will be very interesting to see how the courts rule on this.
Events such as this are good examples of why I often make the statement that religion is poison. Here you have a peaceful gathering of presumably moderate Muslims being penetrated by a group of Christians who know in advance their mere presence will be viewed as confrontational, but they proceed with their confrontations anyway. I cannot help but wonder how the Christians would react if THEY were conducting a similar public gathering of Christian booths and activities and THEY were penetrated by a group of Muslims with cameras asking pointed questions with a clear agenda to promote their own beliefs and denigrate the beliefs of the Muslims. In America, this is called "Disturbing The Peace" because such actions encroach upon the rights of citizens to participate in peaceful public gatherings of their choice free from disruption. This right is of course, protected by the US Constitution under the freedom of speech clause.
Religion is poison when it seeks to contaminate the well of peace of community or society. Sure, one can easily argue that the Muslims are contaminating that well by their mere presence, but that view stands in stark contrast to the US constitutional protections provided for any group. Like it or not, America stands for freedom OF or FROM religion, NOT just the freedom to be a Christian.
Religion is poison when it resorts to confrontations that are expected to produce anger and violence instead of peace. Using 'God' to promote the agenda of any particular tribe, culture, society or nation is counter-productive at the very least and History has proven time and again that such actions can only lead to one, predictable outcome; war.
The three monotheistic religions are all dangerous because they believe their kingdom is not of this world. They therefore have little reason to respect this world. They also believe they have been given an agenda by God to convert others to their belief and we have seen this happening time and again at the point of a gun or sword when confrontations like those we see in these film clips are allowed to escalate. And all of this happens as they preach peace and love. What is wrong with this picture??
The participants and producers of these film clips keep saying "this is America!" What does that mean? Apparently it does NOT mean that Muslims have the right to gather together in a public venue without being challenged and harassed. In fact, this IS precisely what America IS all about. Christians need to read the US Constitution and smarten up. America is NOT a 'Christian nation', it is a nation where 70 percent (or less) of the people simply happen to be Christians for the time being. That figure could and likely will change in time. The question we all have to ask ourselves is what do we want things to be like when that happens? When Christians become the minority (which HAS already happened in many European countries) will they have a right to expect their country will protect their rights to gather together?
America is about equality and respect. Just because a group happens to hold the majority does not give that group any more rights than the minority groups. Yes, Islam IS a dangerous religion and yes, the threat of Islamic radicalism is real and yes it must be dealt with effectively in order to preserve freedoms that Americans hold dear. We cannot and should not however, attempt to preserve those freedoms by trampling on the basic human rights of citizens who not hold the same beliefs that we do.
All American citizens have the freedom to believe whatever religion they choose. And they have the right to engage in peaceful dialogue with other religions. Confrontation and disrespect is not appropriate however, and any religion that believes those tactics are acceptable is a dangerous religion. THIS is the message we should be sending to our Muslim communities. Unfortunately, thanks to the actions of religious groups like yours, we are sending the opposite message much of the time and it is quite likely this message will come back to roost eventually in the form of confrontations from the Muslim community instead of open, constructive dialogue.
I hope my words give you something to think about.
-Michael Jaquish
