Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
A Volunteer Human Rights Group – Choose Love, Not Hate – Love Wins
These are articles regarding being responsible for equality and liberty, and challenging supremacism
Key Strategies for Challenging Extremist Hate
1. Never Legitimize Hate Movements
2. Never Normalize Hate Images, Language
3. Set Expectations of Shared Respect based on EQUAL Rights and Responsibilities
4. Require Commitment to Shared Human Rights and Shared Dignity for Dialogue
We are ALL Responsible for Equality And Liberty
Around the United States of America, people are remembering this day as “Patriot Day.”
Ten years ago today, terrorists attacked New York City, Washington DC crashing jets into buildings and murdering thousands. Another planned attack on Washington DC was thwarted in mid-air on Flight 93 by courageous people, and it crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
We remember.
But we do more than remember than tragedies and the loss of lives.
How many memorial services, how many funerals have you gone to that simply remember loss and death?
No, when we REMEMBER, we also and most importantly remember life. We remember dignity. We remember joyous days. We remember mercy. We remember our common bonds with one another. We remember not just death, but we remember what makes our lives worth living. We remember our hearts and our love for one another.
I believe we do have a destiny. I believe all of our lives are lived for a purpose. I believe that all of our lives have meaning and are special. Those whose lives were ended on 9/11 came from many different backgrounds, different religions, and different identity groups. For some, they died so that we here could live. For others, their last moments were of courage in seeking to save their fellow human beings. They included Todd Beamer, Steven Weinstein, Sophia Addo, New York Fire Department Captain Patrick J. Waters, Lydia Bravo, Army Major Wallace Hogan, NYPD Cadet Mohammad Salman Hamdani, and nearly 3,000 more. Their deaths from the terrorist attacks were not an end, and their lives will be remembered by Americans forever.
We remember our brothers and sisters on 9/11. We remember them and we reach out to them across the universe and across the heavens.
We miss them and we love them. We love them, no matter their names, no matter their ethnic group, no matter their race, no matter their gender, and no matter their religion.
Some worry that our love and compassion will be seen by others as weakness. Our love for one another is not a weakness, but it is the greatest strength in the world. It is a bond to holds fast our diversity around the globe into one singular and special human race.
In the Washington Post today, a writer writes that the 9/11 attacks were the “end of American innocence.” But in our nation and around the world, there are innocent children born every day, who are born into a world and a nation, where they are loved. We have opportunity for such innocent compassion to our fellow beings every day of our lives. So I don’t see any end to innocence in America, or anywhere in the world, I see the endless opportunity for innocent love towards one another.
There are some who ask, ten years later, isn’t it time for Americans to “get over” 9/11? Some of those people mean well. Some of those people are concerned about the divisions we have seen grow in our nation and the world. But we have a choice. As we remember the lives lost on 9/11, we also must continue the courage and dignity of those who were killed that day. We have the choice to remember 9/11 for the fearlessness and sacrifice that so many made to save their fellow human beings in New York City, in Washington DC, and on Flight 93 in the sky. We should never “get over” such profiles of courage, and we should use their inspiration today and every day.
Today, our nation and our fellow human beings must have a united message to those who seek to promote hate and violence.
We are not afraid.
We don’t make that statement arrogantly, but simply as a statement of the truth in our hearts.
We won’t allow ourselves to be dragged into the fear and hate that undermines the joys and the blessings that we have in our lives.
We urge our fellow human beings to choose peace, not violence, to choose human dignity, not disrespect, and to choose love, not hate.
We have the real courage to love one another.
We are not afraid.
=============
Join us at John Marshall Park or the Unity Walk in Washington DC today
Many in the world are paralyzed by crushing hopelessness and fear in their lives.
They may be struggling from financial, health, family, or human rights issues. Those struggling may face situations or even other people who seek to threaten their health, their homes, their livelihood, and even their lives. This struggle with hopelessness and fear has no limits to one race, one religion, one ethnic background, one gender, one generation, or even one financial situation.
Hopelessness and Fear are great equalizers to human beings.
Hopelessness and Fear seek to attack us from within.
They seek to make us question not only our security and each other, but also they seek to make us question ourselves.
They will even drive some to the desperation of hate and violence. While we often dismiss those whose hearts are hardened by hate as simply lost, let us not forget they were not born into hate. They were taught hate and they were taught violence. The hate and violence of some is because of their own fears, their own insecurities, and their need to dominate others because they fear that they without domination their lives will hold no meaning.
We can and we must teach those consumed by hate and violence differently. But to do so, we must also overcome hopelessness and fear in our own lives, to set an example for others.
People of religious faiths are taught to reach to their faith in a higher power to believe in divine inspiration, strength, and even an afterlife. If you are a person of faith, it is vital that you use such faith to give you courage and strength.
Find a direction in your religion to love one another, and if you love one another, have the religious faith to also love yourself and those around you, even those who wish you ill. If your religion teaches forgiveness, then also find the religious faith to forgive yourself and those around you, even those who wish you ill.
I know how easy that is to say and how hard that is to do. When you feel that you have failed and that you are not where you believe you should be in life, you lose patience and courage with yourself. When you feel that others have failed you and even hurt you, then you may feel that such individuals do not deserve such love and forgiveness. But it is especially at these times, when love and forgiveness is the hardest to give and receive, that it is the most important to give and receive. This is really when love and forgiveness can truly make a difference in ourselves and in our society.
In addition to religious faiths, there is more than one type of faith. While those with religious faith have faith in God or the higher power that they believe in, there is also the need to find faith here on Earth as well, regardless of your beliefs.
We also need to have faith in ourselves, in one another, and in our shared human race that we will continue to survive, we will continue to show love and mercy towards one another, and that we will continue to have a future. Despite the sickness, the injustices, the travesties, the oppression, even the genocide of people by other people around the world, the human race marches on.
As a human race, the march of life continues.
This shared march of life should also give us hope and courage.
Certainly, in our individual situations where we feel fear and lose hope, it is often hard to see the value in this ongoing march of life.
We may be frustrated or despondent in our disagreements with others. But we can also choose to find courage that there is an endless opportunity for dialogue as fellow human beings.
We may grow fearful of our poverty, our failing health, and our age. But we can also choose to be thankful for the good days of the past and continue to appreciate the comfort of our fellow human beings in difficult times.
We may have heavy hearts over the loss of loved ones, friends, family, or the loss of relationships that brought great joy to our hearts. But we can also choose to be grateful for the comfort of our human family, and the endless relationships we can potentially have with them.
YOU ARE NEVER ALONE, no matter how lonely you may feel. Your brothers and sisters in humanity are there with you continuing the march of life for the human race.
We may be distraught at facing the dark door of death itself. But we can also choose to have the courage to remember that our end is not THE END. While the march of life for us may end, for other brothers and sisters in humanity, it is just beginning. Our human family will carry on somehow, as it has done over the years.
We may cringe at the growing darkness. But even in the darkest night, we can also choose give thanks for the light from the stars above.
You may think that you are forgotten, neglected, and alone. But somewhere in our shared Earth, there are those of your human brothers and sisters who send their love to you, whose hearts ache for you, who wish the best for you. They may not know your name, but they know YOU. They know you as a fellow human being, as a brother or sister in our human race. They may not be able to solve your problems, but there are human hearts that care about your problems, your fear, your hopelessness, your losses, and your struggles, even for those who hate.
There are those in your human family who seek to help others every day, and there are those in your human family who pray for those of all religions and those with none, simply because they love you as fellow human beings. They march alongside you, in the march of life.
From birth to death, we find ourselves in a march of life. That journey, like all journeys, may have rocks and difficult paths. That journey may find us at some point at an end from which we personally cannot recover. But our brothers and sisters in humanity will pick up the torch and keep the flame of the human spirit alive.
Our march of life is your march of life, a journey that we take TOGETHER.
Fear Not. You Are Not Alone.
In the March of Life, the Best is Yet to Come.
Once again, America finds itself commemorating another Independence Day. We recognize this day as the day when people of the English colonies in America could no longer live under rule of England. We associate American independence with July 4, 1776, and our Declaration of Independence. We remember this as the day that people officially declared themselves not to be British subjects, but to be free Americans.
Americans celebrate the day with picnics, flags, fireworks, and gatherings with family and friends. We live in this moment of freedom and enjoy this day.
I also reflect on our founding fathers’ vision on this day. I reflect on the moral courage in their declaration of freedom not only for America but for all humanity in the Declaraion of Independence.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”
In the past year in our human rights efforts with Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), I have had great successes meeting with individuals of every identity group, every political cause, every race, gender, religion, that share our common commitment to such unalienable rights, and share our common commitment to challenging those who would take these away from us in America or anywhere in the world. From Muslim-Americans supporting democracy, women’s rights, and religious freedom to far-left Americans defying religious extremist views, I have found Americans who are truly united in this consensus in every religion, color, gender, and from both the right and the left. Political pundits may find stories of our political polarization to be interesting, but they neglect our greater consensus that we always had on the truths that we find self-evident. Most Americans hold fast to these truths and they believe in equality and liberty.
Many have concerns about groups that wish to do Americans harm and that seek to take our rights away. But we can never fall into the trap of letting our concerns and challenges become hate and fear.
Our independence and human rights mean nothing as long as we are enslaved to hate and fear.
Some believe that we can be enslaved to hate as Americans. A year ago, the press reported an American citizen expressed such views to his European friends that hate was “natural, normal and necessary,” and that “compassionate nations” would “die.” Those were the words of James Von Brunn to his friends, Nazi supporters in Germany, before his June 10, 2009 terrorist attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
As long as we are enslaved to hate, we have no independence. As long as hate rules our lives, we will never be free, no matter how we can justify such hatred to people of other identity groups, religions, races, genders, and ethnic groups. Hate destroys all, and it destroys our very freedoms. Hate is un-American.
Some also believe that we can be enslaved to fear as Americans. In an era of mass terrorist attacks, fear has gained more power than ever before in American history. We know that ultimately there is no way to stop the “lone wolf” terrorist with a single bomb, or even a private plane as the terrorist Joseph Stack proved in Austin, Texas. We also know that we have been incredibly lucky to have had few attacks on the U.S. homeland since 9/11.
But we have had more than luck. We have had many dedicated American law enforcement and government individuals giving their lives to ensure Americans’ safety, and there has been a massive network of volunteers who have kept their eyes open for Americans. We also not forget the power of teamwork and trust among Americans. We must not forget that on May 1, Muslims and non-Muslims together helped to notify the police to prevent the Times Square bombing.
As long as we are a UNITED States of America, we are bound by the same common cause of our democracy, our human rights, and our shared survival. We must not allow the power of trust and power of unity to be disintegrated by fear.
As long as we are enslaved to fear, we have no independence. As long as fear rules our lives, we will never be free, no matter how we try to justify such fear of people of other identity groups, religions, races, genders, and ethnic groups. Fear destroys all, and it destroys our very freedoms. Fear is un-American.
America is the land of the free and the home of the brave.
On this Independence Day, let’s remember this and let’s break the chains that enslave many Americans to hate and fear. Declare independence from hate and fear in our lives.
Let’s stand up for such freedom and bravery to the world.
Show the world what it really means to be an American.
A year ago, on June 10, 2009, in Washington DC, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum was attacked by a white supremacist, Holocaust denier James Von Brunn, who sought to enter the museum with a rifle to kill Jews. In his murderous rage, he shot and killed black security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns, who was in Von Brunn’s way. The terrorist James Von Brunn was shot and stopped by security guard Harry Weeks and other security guards, and Von Brunn died in a prison hospital on January 6, 2010.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has been reporting on the growth of white supremacist and anti-Semitic hatred (as well as other identity group hatred) long before last year’s attack, and long after it. We have continued to report on the June 10, 2009 Holocaust Memorial Museum attack news reports, as well as the related news not reported by major media outlets. We pointed out how some sought to use the terrorist attack to prevent hate crime laws from being passed. We pointed out out those who supported Von Brunn’s terrorism and called for further acts of hate and violence. We pointed out those who sought to promote racial hatred in America’s national capital. Moreover, we didn’t just passively report such issues, but we held public events to raise awareness on these issues, and we actively protested such hate. We felt that was part of our obligation in being “responsible for equality and liberty.”
We don’t see anything “left-wing” or “right-wing” about defying such hate. We just view defying hate as simply following the truths that we hold self-evident as Americans, and the dignity that we should all enjoy as human beings.
We know that the June 10, 2009 terrorist attack was motivated by HATE.
The terrorist Von Brunn himself documented his philosophy in writing to a Nazi sympathizer in Germany, stating that hate was “natural, normal and necessary,” and that “compassionate nations” would “die.”
This philosophy of terrorist hate should give us all pause to reflect. If anything were to be learned from the June 10, 2009 terrorist attack, it is the cancerous destruction that hate will cause.
In our support for our universal human rights of equality and liberty, we offer another approach. While we defy hate, we also offer an outstretched hand, not an upraised fist, to those who hate. We urge those who hate to release such burden of hate from their hearts and to join us in defending our human rights, which are also their human rights.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is intended to remember the worst atrocity committed against an identity group in human history. When such a place is itself the target of terrorist hatred, it should be a severe warning signal for Americans and all human beings. But that warning signal has been scrupulously ignored, as has the terrorist attack itself been largely forgotten. Even worse, some have sought to rationalize hate against other identity groups themselves, and sadly like Von Brunn, have come to view that compassion is only for the weak.
The cancer of hate has continued to spread. Months after the June 10, 2009 terrorist attack, I saw some people with signs in the streets of Washington DC promoting racial hatred, some carrying signs with swastikas, and some with signs spewing vulgar and obscene messages. Racial supremacist and anti-Semitic groups have sought to promote their cause in our nation’s capital and around the country. On our public airwaves, there are those openly call for bombing houses of worship, who openly promote racist views, who question American legislation designed to guarantee our civil rights, and who ultimately believe that hate is the answer to our nation’s and to the world’s problems.
The lesson that has been taught by the Holocaust has been summarized as “Never Again.”
The lesson that the June 10, 2009 terrorist attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum must teach us is “Never Again to Hate.”
That is a lesson that too many are not interested in hearing about. But if we ever seek to be responsible for equality and liberty, it is our most vital lesson to be learned.
For many reasons, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum terror attack must not be forgotten. But on June 10, 2010, a year later, there was little interest in remembering it. Washington DC area mainstream newspapers only posted AP wire reports to their web sites buried in the “local news sections,” and the private remembrance by staff of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum was covered primarily by Washington DC television stations on their web sites that cover “local” news. Such a terror attack of hate is no longer viewed as “national” news.
In addition to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum‘s private event, the USHMM has also urged citizens to make a donation to the Stephen Tyrone Johns Summer Youth Leadership Program Endowment Fund, and it has posted a web link to some of the comments by Americans over the past year about the attack and the murder of Stephen Tyrone Johns. We applaud their efforts to remember.
In terms of public activism, however, we believe that American citizens also have an obligation to do their part, in remembering this terrorist attack. We are holding a public event to remember the event. We also urge those who seek to express their commitment to challenging hate to share your thoughts with us at info@realcourage.org, and we will share your statements on our web site.
On Sunday, June 13 at 2 PM, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) is hosting a public remembrance in Washington DC of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum attack and the murder of Stephen Tyrone Johns. We have invited the public to join us in this public remembrance, and to share their testimonies of the need to promote tolerance, dignity, respect, and equality for our fellow human beings.
We will hold this public remembrance at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC, near where Martin Luther King, Jr. worked on his speech “I Have A Dream.” We too, have a dream, of human dignity, of human rights, and of equality and liberty – not just for all American, but also for all human beings. We have a dream of our fellow human beings united to be responsible for equality and liberty.
But we know that we cannot begin to make that dream a reality without defying and denying the cancerous growth of hatred in our nation, in our society, and around the world.
On June 13, when we publicly remember the terrorist attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, our united message will be “Never Again to Hate.”
Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.
===============================
June 13 – “Never Again” to Hate Public Remembrance
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
https://www.realcourage.org/never-again/
On Sunday June 13, 2010, at 2 PM, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) invites Washingtonians to a public event to remember the June 10, 2009 attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and to remember the loss of Stephen Tyrone Johns. Choose love, not hate.
We will recall the attack by white supremacist and Holocaust denier James Von Brunn on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on June 10, 2009, and urge our fellow American to commit to “never again” to such hate and violence. (Flier for distribution: Microsoft Word format flier 1, Adobe Acrobat format flier 1, Word format flier 2, Adobe Acrobat format flier 2).
We will meet at the Freedom Plaza in Washington DC, near where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. worked on his speech “I Have a Dream,” and will stand united in our diverse religions, ethnicity, and races. We will stand united for equality. We will also say “Never Again” to hate.
We will remember black security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns who was shot to death on June 10, 2009 while on duty defending a museum that stands in remembrance to the Holocaust. We vow that his death will not be in vain, but that such sacrifices will remind us of the need to be ever-vigilant and defiant against the forces of hate that seek to spread in Washington DC and throughout America.
As those who promote hate seek to create ever-increasing numbers of hate groups in America, our message to them is that America will never retreat on hate. But we don’t answer hate with hate. Instead of an upraised fist, we offer outstretched hands and hearts to those who do hate, to urge them to release the burden of hate from their hearts, and join us in defending the universal human rights and dignity of all people.
We urge all – Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.
We also urge all to make a gift to the USHMM Stephen Tyrone Johns Summer Youth Leadership Program Endowment Fund.
Rally Logistics:
— Date: Sunday, June 13, 2010
— Time: 2 to 4 PM Eastern Daylight Savings Time
— Location: Freedom Plaza, Washington DC, 20004 – on Pennsylvania Avenue NW between 13th and 14th Streets NW
— Contact: Jeffrey Imm, info@realcourage.org, 301-613-8789
The Freedom Plaza in Washington DC is named in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., who worked on his “I Have a Dream” speech in the nearby Willard Hotel. In 1988, a time capsule containing a Bible, a robe, and other relics of King’s was planted at the site.
Directions:
— Map Showing Location of Freedom Plaza in Washington DC
— Street Level Photographic View of Freedom Plaza Area
— Washington DC Metro Subway Stop: Metro Center (Central Station – for Red, Blue, Orange Lines)
— Washington DC Metro Subway Planner Tool
Walking Directions for Metro Center Subway:
— Metro Center Metro Station to Pennsylvania Ave NW & 14th St NW:
1. Exit station through 13TH ST NW & G ST NW entrance.
2. Walk approx. 1 block S on 13th St NW.
3. Turn right on Pennsylvania Ave NW.
4. Walk approx. 1 block W on Pennsylvania Ave NW.
— Parking lots: the nearby National Theater reports the following parking lot areas include:
— PMI
— 1220 E Street, NW – Enter on E Street between 12th and 13th Streets
— 424 11th Street, NW
— 1325 G Street, NW – Enter on G Street between 13th and 14th Streets
— QUICK PARK
— 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW – Enter on 13th Street between E and F Streets
— Freedom Plaza is an open air plaza which is in front of The National Theater, whose address is 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004. Directions to Freedom Plaza are essentially not much different than going to the front of the National Theater (National Theater driving directions, street map of area, parking directions, Metro directions).
The challenge for our generation is how to fight barefoot in the global war of ideas in support of our universal human rights. We must learn how to fight such a war of ideas without the traditional weapons of military, political, and even foreign policy campaigns of might, hate, and cunning. The magnificent goal of seeking real change requires real courage and real compassion, not just angry bluster, momentary adrenaline, and the temporary satisfaction of outwitting an opponent.
The war of ideas for our unqualified, universal human rights is one that must equally challenge anti-human rights ideologies, such as totalitarianism, religious extremism, racism, and misogyny. But while it may challenge such ideologies, a real struggle for human rights does not seek hate and violence against those who hold such ideas, but seeks to change their hearts and minds. We seek to challenge ideologies, not reject individuals as human beings. We seek change with an outstretched hand, not an upraised fist.
The question is: do we really believe in our unqualified, universal human rights?
While this is a secular issue, there is a useful analogy in religious text. There is an example of the barefoot warrior described in the Bible of Joshua in Jericho. When faced with an angelic commander from God, Joshua asks the angel (thinking at first it is a man) – are you on our side or the side of our enemies? The angel replies that he is on God’s side, and demands that Joshua takes God’s side, and remove his sandals as he was now standing on holy ground. Removing one’s sandals required true faith, as while a soldier could lose his shield and weapon, without his sandals (especially in such rough territory), he could not even run away. But he was not defenseless – he had something more powerful, he believed in something greater than himself.
In the secular war of ideas for universal human rights, we also need to remove our sandals and be barefoot in the rocky hills of humanity. It is not enough to ask others if they are on our side on any given issue. We must be on the side of universal human rights for all of humanity. If we are on the side of our unqualified, universal human rights, then we must be on the side of humanity, even those we don’t agree with, even those on “the other side” of our ideological struggle. Our universal human rights are also their rights too. We are not just on “our side,” but we are on “their side” too as human beings.
This requires faith – not only just in our unqualified, universal human rights, but also in humanity itself. Do we believe in our universal human rights? Do we believe that humanity is worth fighting for?
Certainly the past could give anyone pause in answering. We have seen and continue to see great atrocities, the Holocaust, global genocides, global terrorism, continents swept by hate, fear, and senseless violence. It is understandable that anyone might ask, how can you expect the best from your fellow human beings?
But to march as a barefoot warrior on behalf of our shared universal human rights, we have to believe that together we can change. For the future of our descendants, we have to believe that humanity is worth the struggle. What we focus our minds on is what we will surely realize. If we focus on hate, then we are certain to attract hate. If we focus on love, then we must believe that we will attract love.
I have urged many times, for us to Choose Love, Not Hate – Love Wins. It is easy to cynically dismiss this as impractical philosophy. It requires real courage to believe in the power of love. It requires real compassion to believe that Love truly does Win. It is only once we start to make this a part of our lives that we can begin to become a barefoot warrior for human rights.
When we challenge ideologies that defy our human rights and that promote hate, we cannot be a barefoot warrior for human rights and respond to those who promote such ideologies with our own hatred, mocking, and violence. We have to leave those childish things behind. We have to grow up as human beings, if want to be barefoot warriors, responsible for equality and liberty. It is time to be men and women, and to answer the clarion call to our generation for compassion, not just echo the anger of frustration and impatience.
To reach the vistas that are possible together as human beings, we must break the ball and chain of hate and fear that drag us all down. When we urge our fellow human beings to release the burden of hate and fear from their hearts, we are asking them not just to release that burden from themselves, but also from ourselves as well. Their burdens are our burdens in the grand challenge for humanity to reach towards equality and liberty for all.
Much of the world has changed, and we can reach more of the world than ever before. Such global communication abilities have given us great power as human beings. But with great power, comes great responsibility. We have an opportunity to continue the long march started by so many champions of justice for so many individual circumstances, but this time, not just for one identity group, but in the name of equality and liberty for all. Never before did those who came before us have the opportunity to reach so much of the world in a single generation. But with new technologies and a vastly expanded globalism, we now have the opportunity to reach countless others who never had the hope to believe in our shared universal human rights.
Will we rise to the challenge?
Will we dare to have the courage to begin a barefoot march for the universal human rights for all?
Some will ask, will this march for human rights end totalitarianism now, will it end racism now, will it end religious extremism and promote pluralism now, will it end misogyny now? The answer to that is both yes and no.
A march for human rights can reach some hearts now, but we know we have a long way to go in this generational struggle. But the march begins with the first steps — within us. If we end such hate and such disrespect for human rights within ourselves, then we have begun the march as a barefoot warrior for human rights.
It is the march itself for our fellow human beings rights that is the living example we set, the living testimony as to what we can achieve together in respect and love. We can demonstrate that there is another path to our future, another choice beside endless hate and endless violence.
It is the march itself that can reach out to others and help others realize that we are not bound to deny the human rights of others. We are not bound to the hopeless cynicism that humanity cannot change. We are not bound to distrust, disrespect, and the disease of hate. We have a choice.
We can choose love, not hate. We can choose to be responsible for equality and liberty.
We can choose to leave our sandals on the rocks and believe in our fellow human beings.
We stand in support of our universal human rights of freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, and freedom of worship for all people.
The “Stop Islamization of America” (SIOA) group has organized a June 6 protest in New York City against stopping a future “ground zero mosque.” While there have been plenty of angry editorials and petitions on this subject, the specifics of the actual “mosque” in New York City and the human rights impact of protesting a house of worship has received limited reporting. Moreover, few seem to realize that this “mosque” has already been in place as an active worship center since at least December 2009. This article will address five connected topics: (1) the reality of the “ground zero mosque,” (2) the priority of our universal human rights, (3) why denial of human rights affects everyone, (4) the plank of hate in our own eye, and (5) the important choices facing Americans.
I share this information not to criticize those who are concerned about this issue, but to ask them to seriously reflect on the consequences of protesting a place of worship in America, and the message that it sends to the world. As human beings, we are all imperfect and have made choices and mistakes that we regret, as I have and we all have. But the grand message of the human experience is not only in where we have been, but most importantly where we are going to – and this is where our choices continue to allow us to shape our destiny, our future, and define our responsibility for equality and liberty.
The Reality of the “Ground Zero Mosque”
In December 2009, I first read about the July 2009 purchase of the former Burlington Coat Factory building on 45 Park Place in New York City by the Cordoba Initiative, led by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his wife Daisy Khan. Both the New York Times and Der Spiegel reported in December 2009 how Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf had purchased the aged building and told the NYC mayor in September 2009 that they planned to convert it to a worship center and a cultural center. According to the NY Daily News, the idea that Feisal Abdul Rauf has is to renovate the building based on a NYC YMCA style structure. But the idea is not some “new” development. Cordoba has owned the building for nearly a year, and the NYC mayor has known about this for 10 months. NYC Muslims have already been holding worship services there for 6 months and presumably continue to do so today. So the idea of NYC protests to “stop” Muslims from having worship services is about 6 months too late.
Back in December 2009 (and presumably today), the former Burlington Coat Factory was nothing more than an outwardly grimy and dilapidated building, where some NYC Muslim worshipers (including street vendors) go during the day to pray. In all of the dramatic Photoshop “graphics” of what this mosque and cultural center might look like someday, there has been very little reporting on what it actually is today. So I have prepared a collage of some actual photographs, not graphic sketches, of what it actually looks like (based on published photographs in the NYC and world media from December 2009). It is certainly possible some changes may have been made in 6 months, but as 45 Park Place has not yet been renovated, these photographs should essentially represent the reality today. Americans deserve to know all of the facts to make balanced decisions.
To those who plan to protest this on June 6 – is this really what you want to be protesting?
Do you want the world to see Americans protesting against what is today a dilapidated old building where some NYC Muslims have already been praying for the past 6 months? Is this how you plan to honor yourself, your freedoms, and your country?
With the world watching, it is essential for Americans to use their resources and time to publicly demonstrate their commitment to our universal human rights – not to show the world that Americans are just as willing to deny such human rights of freedom of religion religion as others.
To those who are wondering where is “Ground Zero” in any these photographs, that’s a good question. It’s not there, because the fact is that 45 Park Place is a good two blocks away from “Ground Zero,” or as one person has calculated about 600 feet (that’s roughly about two American football fields). In the dense concrete jungle of New York City, two blocks might as well be a mile away in terms of visibility. In terms of “hallowed ground,” it is a fact that a piece of landing gear from one of the 9/11 jets fell on 45 Park Place. But in terms of preventing Muslims from praying in that area, the fact that Muslims have been praying there since December 2009 already shows that it really is impractical to decide where someone has the right to pray or worship. Even if 45 Park Place was taken away from the Cordoba Initiative who would prevent Muslims from praying anywhere else in the area, even in cabs, as they go by the Ground Zero area?
The truth is that our universal human rights of freedom of religion, freedom of worship, and freedom of conscience not only apply to everyone, they apply everywhere – whether some like it or not. Moreover, as people in nations around the world including Communist China, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and increasingly in the UK and Europe continue to find out – there is no way to prevent people from truly exercising their freedom of conscience – such universal human rights will exist no matter how others try to stop them.
The SIOA has a different picture of the area, one based on graphics artistry, rather than actual photography, designed to show the future plans for the 45 Park Place building with a backdrop of the attack on the World Trade Center buildings. Now that you have seen the actual photographs as well as the planned redesign for 45 Park Place, let’s look at the SIOA graphic. Apparently, according to the image by the SIOA graphic designers, the message they seek to convey is that people at the top floors on what the SIOA calls the future “monster mosque” at 45 Park Place will be able to look down upon the wreckage of the World Trade Center when they pray. Let’s ignore the obvious point that the World Trade Center is supposed to be rebuilt, and let’s set aside the question of whether (and when) people praying at a rebuilt 45 Park Place would be able to “look down” on any WTC wreckage two NYC blocks away. For the moment, let’s assume the SIOA is correct on all of the points of their argument.
If Americans “stop” Muslims from praying at 45 Park Place, what is to prevent them from praying at any other place in the “Ground Zero” area, or looking down on “Ground Zero” from any other part of the nearby NYC area buildings? The answer is obvious. There is nothing to prevent Muslims from praying anywhere at any time, or to prevent them from doing so in the sight of any part of “Ground Zero,” just like Muslims have already been praying at 45 Park Place for the past 6 months (without protest).
So what exactly is SIOA protesting to stop? Muslim worship services that have been taking place? If the SIOA is only protesting that a larger mosque and cultural center is planned on being built, does that mean that they have been fine with the Muslim worship services that have already been taking place (and presumably continue to take place) since December 2009? Or is it all of New York City that some seek to ban the building of mosques and Muslim worship, indeed all of America? The reality is that extremist views on seeking to deny religious freedom ultimately break down into an absurd rejection of our universal human freedoms that even a totalitarian nation such as Communist China is ultimately incapable of consistently enforcing.
This demonstrates the lack of logic in protesting against others exercising our universal human rights, including our right to freedom of religion and freedom of worship, whether such protests take place in Indonesia, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, or the United States of America.
The facts are that no matter how much some protest, we cannot and we have no right to tell others how, where – and to who – they will pray. Those who reject, disrespect, and defy such unqualified, universal human rights do not change the rights of all people, everywhere to such universal human rights.
Our Strongest Weapon in the War of Ideas – Our Universal Human Rights
You don’t sacrifice what is important for what is not. If we are ever to honor the losses of Americans with diverse races, religions, and backgrounds who died on 9/11, we must stay focused on undermining the tactics of terrorism by unflinchingly staying on the front lines of the war of ideas. Our fallen Americans deserve such commitment by us on the issues that really matter.
There are those who think that we will successfully struggle against terrorist tactics only by tactics of our own, whether they are military, law enforcement, immigration, foreign policy measures, or counterterrorism; such individuals continue to be unable to see the larger picture and the strategy that requires our consistent defense of our universal human rights and pluralism in a global war of ideas. We cannot fight our way out of this global ideological struggle simply by bombing terrorist compounds, arresting criminals, deporting individuals, and appeasing religious extremists for counterterrorist intelligence. We can’t negotiate our way out of this with those who play double-games with us and the enemies of freedom. This existential struggle requires more than anger, muscle, or even cunning; it requires compassion, thinking, and our hearts. It is that serious. We can’t afford to keep bungling around with nonsense tactics while we continue to lose the war of ideas in America and around the world more and more every day. Our world is at war, not just militarily, not just with terrorism, but the world is at war over the very idea of human freedom and human rights itself.
If we want to show respect to those who died on 9/11, we must understand that terrorist attacks continue to happen around the world every day to someone else, somewhere else in the world. Such terrorist attacks are not a series of random, disconnected “isolated incidents,” as our tacticians would have us believe. No matter who is the terrorist actor, such attacks are consistent in one important way – they are all based on hatred, and they are all based on defiance of our unqualified, universal human rights. But whether it is a Christian church burned in Malaysia or a Muslim mosque burned in America, hate is hate, and those who defy our universal human rights seek the same ends – to force others to deny their freedoms. Freedom of religion is not “a luxury,” it is a part of our strongest weapon of universal human rights in a world war of ideas – and in too many parts of the world, it is a defining human right that differentiates us from the enemies of our human rights.
If hate and denial of our universal human rights is the consistent message of our enemies, then if we choose hate and denial of our universal human rights for others here in America, we become no different than they are. We become what we are fighting against.
What we can’t afford is to is throw away our strongest weapon in this war of ideas – our universal human rights that guarantees freedom of expression, that ensures freedom of the press, that demands equal rights for women, and that insists on freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, and yes, freedom of worship – not just for those like us and those we like – but for all people, not just in America – but everywhere.
To Americans, these are not “just” universal human rights, these are the very definition of America itself – “we hold these truths to be self-evident” that all men are created equal and that our inalienable human rights include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That is what it means to be an American; it is the declaration of our identity. If we want to do something about 9/11, if we want to effect change in the world, the first place to show that change is with ourselves and our lives. We must live to show that we not only hold these truths to be self-evident, but that we will defend such truths of our universal human rights, and that our lives will show that we are responsible for equality and liberty – not just for some people, but for all people.
If we want to honor the 9/11 fallen, then it is our obligation to stay on the front lines of this struggle to consistently defend such universal human rights, and not allow ourselves to succumb to the weaknesses of fear and hate. We must be stronger than that, we must be more American than that.
United We Must Stand – not only in our national defense of America’s homeland, but also in the defense of America’s identity and in defense of the rights that are inherent in our identity as human beings.
Denying Human Rights for One, Denies Human Rights for Us All
One might read this thus far and believe that I completely agree with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan, who are behind the Cordoba Initiative’s efforts to renovate 45 Park Place. In fact, I don’t agree with them on a number of key issues.
But when it comes to their universal human rights, it simply doesn’t matter. That’s the point – one that all Americans and those who respect our universal human rights should understand. Our basic human rights, as Americans and as human beings, extend to all of our fellow Americans and human beings – whether we agree with them or not. When seek to support denial of universal human rights to some, including freedom of worship, we deny such universal human rights to all. That is the point of “universal” human rights. We can’t think that we can select who does and does not have such rights, without undermining such rights for everyone.
Perhaps next time it might be you and your faith that someone disagrees with and seeks to deny your freedom of worship, as we see in many parts of the world today. If we support universal human rights, but we can’t set an example to defend them, who will?
For those who will inevitably ask, I have a number of disagreements and concerns with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan. Self-criticism and willingness to consistently defy religious extremists essential in any meaningful interfaith dialogue. Such self-criticism of our views with which we seek to shape the world is not a weakness; it is our greatest strength in building relationships with our fellow human beings. Such defiance against religious extremists is not a treason to our religions, but it is the foundational building blocks in a pluralist society. If they seek interfaith relations, we need to see such self-criticism of Muslim views and defiance to religious extremists more often from Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan.
In too much of the world, people’s human rights are suffering under Muslim religious extremists’ interpretation of “Sharia,” which in the Qur’an simply refers to choosing the “right path.” “Sharia” is open to the interpretation of Muslim religious scholars and “students” from the Taliban (which means “students”) to those Muslims promoting secular democracy and human rights. But when we hear about those who seek to implement “strict Sharia” invariably we hear from those who seek to deny our universal human rights. This global issue between some Muslims’ religious practices and our universal human rights is an issue that all Muslim clerics and scholars should be addressing as their top priority. In April 2009, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf wrote a short article for the Washington Post trying to clarify it, but briefly dismissed the interpretation of Sharia by the Taliban and too many others in the world in one sentence as merely the views of ” ‘firebrand’ clerics.” He then went on to explain how Sharia is comparable to the U.S. Declaration of Independence and is something that we should not fear.
If Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is serious about “reforming” Sharia (my word), which may be one of the critical problems for Muslims in America and the world in terms of interfaith relations and addressing human rights, then this should be a focus of his. Instead, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf dismisses the endless reports of human rights abuses rationalized by those under Sharia, with a very brief statement which essentially states “trust us” on what is likely the largest issue in interfaith relations in the world. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf ‘s “trust me” approach on Sharia is not enough in a world where violence and oppression continues every day rationalized by Sharia, nor is “trust me” enough in his calls for a “religious” solution in Afghanistan, where women continue to be oppressed by religious extremists and where Christians and other religious minorities are persecuted, including a reported recent call by an Afghan parliamentarian to kill Christians converts.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has also stated that we must understand how terrorists think, and has blamed Christians as ones who have been responsible for mass causality attacks, stating: “The Islamic method of waging war is not to kill innocent civilians. But it was Christians in World War II who bombed civilians in Dresden and Hiroshima, neither of which were military targets.” If Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is concerned about building interfaith relations and respect for Muslims in America and around the world, he should be less defensive and less focused on what type of “methods of war” is blamed on different religions, and more focused on the methods of peace and human rights that we can all achieve together. There are those in every religion that have been involved in war and violence. There are those in every religion that have been involved in denying human rights. But the question we must ask as human beings is where are we going in the future together in peace and in human rights?
Those promoting tolerance must reject a defensive style of appearing to appease those who would deny human rights and reject freedom. Tolerance and pluralism is based on our shared, unqualified, universal human rights. In September 2008, I wrote about the U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project, whose study results called for American engagement with the Muslim Brotherhood (whose motto is “jihad is our way”), whose study called for “engagement with political representatives of armed and activist movements,” whose study called for U.S. engagement with the FTOs Hamas and Hezbollah, and whose study stated that the U.S. should not expect that governments based on Sharia law would have limitations in human rights. This study was endorsed and promoted by Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress, during the Bush administration. Members of the leadership group that developed the recommendations for this study, included Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his wife Daisy Khan, along with 32 others from various religions, political views, and professions. But in September 2008 as today, there has been little concern or debate on this study, its conclusions, or its bipartisan endorsement.
Daisy Khan also leads the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), founded by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, whose mission is “building bridges between Muslims and the American public.” So in January 2009, it surprised me when I saw Daisy Khan’s summary of ASMA’s Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow (MLT) meeting to include the following poll results: “Are there Islamic values that are in fundamental conflict with Western Values? 61% – Yes.” How is publishing this promoting bridges between Muslims and the American public? In January 2009, the CSM had a follow-up news report on the ASMA MLT meeting where MLT members told the news media comments such as “it’s not an Islamic value to have absolute freedom. Islam puts boundaries on you,” and “It is freedom not to submit [to God’s will] that gives value to submission itself.” While every religion puts “boundaries” on our activities, are these the types of message that Muslims want to send to the world on freedom – especially from its future leaders?
The same news report also reported ASMA’s Daisy Khan’s comments on the Muslim response to 9/11 as: “ASMA’s Khan said that after 9/11, Americans wanted to know why Muslims’ denunciations of the terrorist attacks were so muted. Although hundreds of Islamic religious leaders did condemn the attacks, they were not heard clearly because Islam has no central leadership, like Roman Catholicism’s Vatican.” Is this an effective response to too many of those who distrust Muslims in America and around the world? Rather than bemoan the lack of a “Vatican” for those of the Islamic faith in America, doesn’t it make more sense to call for build a responsible group of Muslims in America whose voice and leaders consistently reject violence, hate, and those attacking our universal human rights?
Moreover, I can understand the concerns of those who are worried about Saudi funds in a rebuilt 45 Park Place, especially given the history of the Saudi government in funding mosques that quietly spread extremism. I can understand how other Muslims, such as M. Zuhdi Jasser, can question the wisdom of building a planned future 13 story cultural center in area sure to be a target for criticism. Moreover, I would ask Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to consider in the interests of the national healing between non-Muslims and Muslims, if it really makes sense to plan to announce the rebuilt Islamic cultural center at 45 Park Place, on a day when the nation is mourning an act of war two blocks away, and if respectful modesty might build more bridges than giving the appearance of ignoring the feelings of those who continue to be wounded by the 9/11 attacks.
As I have pointed out, there are plenty of areas where I disagree with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan. But whether I agree with them or not (and whether or not they agree with me), I respect them as my brothers and sisters in humanity. I will defend their universal human rights, just like we must defend the universal human rights of all of our fellow human beings, including the right to freedom of worship.
I have summarized the points in the preceding paragraphs — not primarily to catalog how I disagree with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan — but to publicly demonstrate how we can disagree with others, while still defending their universal human rights, including and especially their right to freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, and freedom of worship.
I don’t have to agree with others to respect their religious freedoms and their right to worship. Whether I agree with them or not, whether or not I share their religious views, whether I am critical of their positions or not — all of these have nothing to do with defending their universal human rights. They have a right to their religious center at 45 Park Place, whether I like it or not, whether I agree with them or not, and they have the same religious freedoms as every other American and every other human being.
In April 2010, I saw Muslim leader Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser appear in a conference on diversity and human rights at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. Dr. Jasser spoke of his background and his experiences in America, but also about his commitment to challenging what he calls “political Islam.” Dr. Jasser spoke of his commitment to challenging those who believe Islamic religious views should be imposed on governments and legal systems. Dr. Jasser leads the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) whose mission is “building the the future of Islam through liberty and freedom.” His group is not the only one in the United States. Other groups include the American Islamic Congress (AIC) that champions women’s rights, religious freedom and pluralism, and the Center for Islamic Pluralism.
To those who believe that Americans can start calling for the banning of mosques and who plan to protest against the building of mosques, I assert that we can’t afford to deny such universal human rights to American Muslims. What next, will some call for banning the religious freedom of other Muslims such as Dr. Jasser, AIC leaders, and the CIP leaders? And who has the right to decide what Muslims’ house of worship, we will call to ban and those we will not?
When we starting denying freedom of worship for some, we start denying freedom of worship for all. There are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world who are watching to see how Americans will act on this. In the global war of ideas, we need to show that we stand behind the courage of our convictions in our human rights and freedoms. We must demonstrate that those of us committed to such human rights will stand with our Muslim brothers and sisters in defending their right to freedom of religion and worship.
The Plank in Our Own Eye
While some are anxious to criticize Cordoba and its Muslim leaders for its plans at 45 Park Place in NYC, there is plenty of shame and disgrace among non-Muslims that we must not be silent about.
To begin with, there are the comments of hate and derision against Islam by political leader Mark Williams, who stated that Muslims worship a “monkey-god.” We have no place for such raw and vulgar hatred in American politics, but Mr. Williams has decided that this is his way of disagreeing with the 45 Park Place renovation.
I have seen similar comments of hatred in blogs and by anonymous posters, including one comment (still there) on a New York Post news story on its web site by a poster “Truthful” who states that “I say let them build it and when that expensive beautiful building is built, someone should blow it up… 9when it is filled with people… What a fitting tribute to 9-11.” Nor has such blatant hate and open calls for terrorism been restricted to cranks and anonymous Internet posters.
On May 26, 2010, on American radio station KPRC-950 AM, radio broadcaster Michael Berry said regarding 45 Park Place, “I’ll tell you this — if you do build a mosque, I hope somebody blows it up,” and then restated this again, “I hope the mosque isn’t built, and if it is, I hope it’s blown up, and I mean that.” (audio file). What type of nation is America becoming when open calls for terrorist attacks on houses of worship are being treated as unimportant? Promotion of hatred has consequences.
A steady stream of anti-Muslim hatred throughout America has continued to inspire violence and bombings against Muslims and their mosques. In May 2010, a Michigan mosque was vandalized twice in one week, and in Jacksonville, Florida, a terrorist sought to attack a mosque with 60 people inside with a pipe bomb and gasoline. In Tennessee, there has been “pro-Christian” vandalism of one mosque, and another mosque has been burned to the ground.
Is this type of cowardly hatred, what we will tolerate in the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Or will we say “enough” to hate? Will we say “enough” to attacks on houses of worship?
In the 21st century, an important way for us to speak out is via the unregulated Internet. We must recognize that some are using the Internet to promote hate and violence against all of our fellow human beings. Such antagonism begins with the consistent promotion of intolerance of those of various religions, races, and other identity groups on too many web sites.
Regarding Islam, in September 2009, I wrote about the Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) group and international media reports in September 2009 of SIOA plans to disrupt a public worship service on the Capitol grounds in Washington DC. I am not surprised to see the SIOA leading the June 6 protest against the 45 Park Place Muslim worship center, given its history of intolerance towards and rejection of Islam in totality. Regardless of the words it uses, the message that SIOA has conveyed has been clear, it has not simply sought to challenge extremists among Muslims, it has been against all of Islam. The current SIOA website shows its sister organizations, including the Stop Islamization of Europe (SIOE), which has a history of protesting against mosques in the United Kingdom and Europe. At a recent SIOE protest chanting “no mosques in our streets,” a Nazi organization joined the SIOE march against a Danish mosque, and it wasn’t until the Nazi group went to raise a banner with a Nazi swastika on it in front of a photographer, that the SIOE broke off the march in Denmark. This same SIOE leader will be one of the speakers at the June 6 NYC protest against the 45 Park Place mosque.
Human rights issues cannot be addressed by promoting intolerance. Intolerance attracts more of the same, not those who care about human rights.
The plank in our eye also includes other houses of worship in America that openly promote intolerance and hate. We have reported on the “Christian Identity movement” and its efforts to promote resurgent racism, including in houses of worship such as the Abundant Life Fellowship Church in Indiana.
We have reported on the Kansas Westboro Baptist Church that regularly promotes hate against Jews, promotes Holocaust Denial, and that protests Jewish synagogues, that praises the murder and shooting of police officers, that praises terrorist bombings against mosques, and that even praises terrorist bombings against fellow Christians.
But there is no one calling for closing these houses of worship, and even these houses of worship are protected with their universal human rights of freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, and freedom of worship.
The Florida-based Dove World Outreach center church, which formed an alliance with the Kansas Westboro Baptist Church, also has such universal human rights and freedom of worship. While the Dove World Outreach center enjoys such freedom of religion and worship, it seeks to deny the same rights to Muslims and has led a nationwide campaign that “Islam is of the Devil” in high schools, churches, protest events, and a large sign that states “Islam is of the Devil” in front of its church.
This same Dove World Outreach center was part of a November 2009 protest event, in Columbus, Ohio led by the current Executive Director of the SIOA who is leading the June 6 protest in New York City. At first, I thought that Dove World Outreach’s involvement was a random group that sought to gain publicity from the November Columbus event, until I saw their photographs posted on the website of the current Executive Director of the SIOA.
I then later saw appeals for funding for this same Dove World Outreach Center on the SIOA Facebook web site, and then further discovered that the Dove World Outreach Center was a supporter of the SIOA since its founding in 2009.
But we must defend the universal human rights of freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, and freedom of worship even of those houses of worship that are a “plank in our eye” as well. While I may disagree with the racist views of the Abundant Faith Fellowship or the “Christian Identity,” I may disagree with the anti-Semitism and praise of violence by the Westboro Baptist Church, and I may disagree with anti-Muslim hate of the Dove World Outreach Center — my disagreement with their views does NOT give me or anyone else the right to deny their universal human rights — whether it is freedom of expression or freedom of religion and worship.
Our universal human rights apply to everyone, everywhere. That remains the heart of our argument in the world war of ideas with extremists and those who seek to deny our human freedoms – no matter what their religion is.
We can’t fight hate with hate. We can’t fight intolerance with intolerance. We can’t address human rights abuses by denying human rights for others. Two wrongs don’t make a right. This is something we all logically realize. But we need to know this more than an surface level, this knowledge must be internalized into who we are and how we live our lives – responsible for equality and liberty.
The Choice to be Responsible and Uncompromising on Our Human Rights
There are important choices for Americans and our other fellow human beings on these issues. To those who are frustrated by the seeming lack of defiance to extremist views and the apparent lack of action on those who defy our universal human rights, there are actions that you can take. Activist groups regularly have events and volunteer opportunities were our passions can be productively challenged to help change our world and educate our fellow human beings.
But the most important choice to effect change doesn’t begin with reaching someone else – it begins within ourselves.
The crisis point in the world war of ideas attacking freedom and human rights demands that we make a decision about ourselves as individuals. Will we surrender to fear and hate, and seek to find “security” by denying others the rights that help define our very humanity? Will we avoid such responsibilities as human citizens and simply hope that someone else does our job for us? Or will we choose to stand up for our universal human rights – for all people – to demonstrate to the world what freedom is really about?
Our world, our fellow human beings, our future cries out for all of us to stand up and choose to be responsible for equality and liberty. Our destiny as a human race demands that we recognize that there is no future in compromising on our unqualified, universal human rights. We cannot compromise on our freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, and freedom of worship – no matter how much it might make some feel temporarily satisfied.
We will never be empowered by denying our fellow human beings their universal human rights, because what we take away from them, we also take away from ourselves. We must not compromise on such human rights.
Living in Washington DC, I have seen more than my share of people compromising on our universal human rights, while the city has many monuments with marble inscriptions promoting such human rights. The assumption that many people make is that such people who compromise on human rights are “bad guys.” But that’s not true. Many are decent individuals, even well-meaning individuals, who started off by making one compromise, then another, then another, and after a while, they came to believe that compromising on human rights was the way things got done. Some believe that being uncompromising on universal human rights is not “practical.” Some have even come to believe that compromising on human rights is the only way to lead and the only way to be popular.
But New Yorkers and all of us can choose another path. While the 9/11 terrorist attacks still traumatize New Yorkers (as they have Washingtonians), and destroyed a symbol in New York’s skyline, another symbol of NYC’s skyline still stands proudly – the Statue of Liberty. It is a symbol of liberty that stands for all people, of all ethnic backgrounds, all races, all genders, and ALL religions. It is a symbol of our universal human rights that stands as a beacon and as an invitation to the world.
When you come to America, the first symbol you see is not crossed swords, but these outstretched, open arms of equality and liberty for all. This is the America that so many of us are struggling to protect and defend. Never forget that this is what we are really fighting for – not just American economic needs, not just American political or territorial needs – but the very truths that we hold self-evident that all human beings are created equal, with the universal human rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Yes we lost the World Trade Center and 3,000 of our fellow Americans to hate and intolerance, and we mourn their loss. But let’s not also lose the symbol of freedom to the world, and let’s not lose the war of ideas against our human rights and freedom that defines not just who we are, but also who we will be.
The heart of the world war of ideas is a challenge by those who seek deny such unqualified, universal human rights, and instead seek to promote “relativism” of freedom of religion, “relativism” of freedom of conscience, and “relativism” of freedom to worship. This struggle of ideas against religious extremists seeks to deny such universal human rights and inalienable human freedoms for all people around the world. We can never defeat those who seek to only offer “relative” human rights, by only offering “relative” human rights to others ourselves.
The world is watching to see if we really have the courage of our convictions on human freedom, or if our support for universal human rights is nothing more than lofty “words.” In this war of ideas, never forget that history will not just judge those who fought against our universal human rights in other parts of the world and from extremist thinking, but history will also judge those of us who were too possessed by hate and by fear to defend our universal human rights and who knew better.
We must show the world that we will not live controlled by fear and hate.
We must show the world that we will choose love, not hate.
We must show the world that yes, we will stand fearlessly, with the courage that only compassion can inspire, as individuals responsible for equality and liberty.
Everyone has a right to believe, a right to freedom of worship, and a right to freedom of conscience. These are universal human rights that are rights for all people around the world, regardless of whether we agree with their religion or faith (or lack thereof). Because we support such unquestioned freedom of conscience in a world where attacks on houses of worship are routine acts of hate, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) is deeply concerned about the growing practice in the United Kingdom and Europe of protests at or against individual mosques.
In the United Kingdom, we are concerned about the recent protests and violence by protesters among the English Defence League (EDL) on April 3 and on May 2, 2010, and their efforts to block the mosque in Dudley. While the EDL is pleased with their success in blocking the creation of a mosque in Dudley, the larger question that must be asked is what is the message the EDL is sending to the world on British commitment to freedom of religion?
On May 28, 2010, the UK Guardian newspaper also reported on plans for future EDL protests at “Muslim centers,” including East London Mosque, Tower Hamlets, and Bradford this summer. The May 28 reports highlight a growing sense of anti-Muslim hatred, rage, and violence which is growing in the United Kingdom and which is targeting Muslims and Islamic houses of worship.
The UK Guardian reports and videos on an “undercover investigation” of the EDL shows supporters calling for hate against all Muslims, with chants such as “We All Hate Muslims,” use of racial slurs and profanities, and threats. The reports allege that the EDL is increasingly becoming infiltrated with others who hate, including Skinheads, Combat 18 Nazis, and other racists. Hate attracts hate.
The May 28 Guardian reports include:
— “English Defence League: new wave of extremists plotting summer of unrest”
— “English Defence League: Inside the violent world of Britain’s new far right”
— “The English Defence League uncovered” – 11 minute video report
I strongly urge you to look at these reports, especially the video report, to fully appreciate this issue.
Where there is religious discrimination and hatred, often there is resultant violence and terrorism. As with other houses of worship, there has been vandalism of mosques in the United Kingdom, one mosque attacked in Eccles on April 16, 2010, and another mosque building burned to the ground in Cradley in December 2009.
Any struggle or protest against religious extremism that uses hate and violence, attacks houses of worship, and attacks all individuals of one identity group without respect to diversity and individual views, is nothing less than a mirror image of another form of religious extremism.
The people in the United Kingdom must find organizations and leaders with credibility to speak out against such hatred, such violence, such intolerance, and who will be consistent in their support for our universal human rights, including our universal right to freedom of religion, worship, and conscience. One group that seeks to reach out to British Muslims and non-Muslims in a spirit of our shared human rights is the group British Muslims for Secular Democracy (BMSD.) In January 2010, when the anti-democracy religious extremist group Islam4UK sought to hold a march in Wootton Bassett, the BMSD promised to hold a counter-demonstration to show that other Muslims do not accept the anti-freedom, anti-democracy views of the Islam4UK group. Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) promoted this statement by the BMSD to stand up to the Islam4UK extremists, but such acts of responsible protests and consistent commitment to our universal human rights do not get enough media attention. This needs to change. Too little media and public attention is given to those who pursue a human rights solution to extreme views, as opposed to those that promote hatred and reject human rights – whether it is the EDL or the Islam4UK.
Another group in the United Kingdom and Europe that is protesting mosques is the “Stop Islamization of Europe” (SIOE) group. The slogan of the SIOE group is that “Islamophobia is the height of common sense.” In the United Kingdom, the SIOE has had two protests in front of Harrow Central Mosque in September 2009 and December 2009. In the September 2009 SIOE protests at the Harrow mosque, there was violence between supporters and counter protesters, as SIOE protest supporters went to the mosque chanting “Muslims out.” In the December 2009 SIOE protest at the Harrow mosque, the SIOE reportedly refused the opportunity to dialogue with leaders of the Harrow mosque.
The SIOE group also has other European divisions, as well as a sister group in the United States, the “Stop Islamization of America” (SIOA) group. One of these groups is the ‘Stop Islamiseringen af Danmark’ (SIAD) division in Denmark.
We are also concerned about the May 21, 2010 protests by the Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) against a mosque in Aalborg, Denmark titled “no mosques in our streets.” The Aalborg SIOE/SIAD protest led by SIOE leader Anders Gravers was targeting a mosque in Aalborg because of reports that the mosque’s imam supports genital mutilation of women.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) shares the concern of challenging those who support abuse against women or any abuse of our universal human rights. But we understand that two wrongs do not make a right, and that seeking to protest houses of worship is not the way to gain the support of others on human rights issues. In fact, protesting houses of worship is a sure way to attract those committed to hate and violence.
The May 21, 2010 SIOE/SIAD march’s chant, however, was not about women’s human rights, but was to call for “no mosques in our streets.” Not surprisingly, we learned that the May 21, 2010 SIOE/SIAD protest was then joined by individuals representing a Nazi organization. TV2 NORD reports that the Nazi organization DNSB (Danmarks Nationalsocialistiske Bevaegelse – Danish National Socialist Movement) joined the SIOE/SIAD protest at Aalborg against the mosque, and the Nazi protesters were led by Daniel Carlson.
According to TV2 NORD, the Nazi DNSB group sought to raise its own banner with the Nazi swastika as part of its participation in the SIOE / SIAD protest against the Aalborg mosque. An embarrassed SIOE leader Anders Gravers then sought to remove the Nazi swastika banner from the protest march, which led to a scuffle.
Certainly, anyone who has ever been involved with a public activity or protest is aware of the challenges of unwelcome participants who may seek to “hijack” an event. However, the lesson that SIOE should have learned is that its messages that “Islamophobia is the height of common sense” and “no mosques in our streets” are viewed as messages that Nazi groups can support. This is why those who challenge religious extremist and anti-human rights activities must have a human rights message, human rights leadership, and human rights consistency, that groups like the SIOE and the EDL will never offer the public.
What has the SIOE learned from this humiliating experience? Has it learned not to promote “Islamophobia”? Has it learned that hate only attracts hate? Has it learned that human rights issues cannot be addressed by promoting intolerance and hate? Unfortunately, all that the SIOE has learned is that it needs to have another protest against the Aalborg mosque because the May 21 march was not satisfactory. Like the EDL, the SIOE also has other protests against mosques planned for the summer of 2010, which it calls “hatecentrals,” while they cannot recognize the hatred in their own activities. SIOE plans another protest against a mosque in Copenhagen on August 28, 2010.
SIOE’s leader Anders Gravers, whose Denmark event attracted the support of the Nazi party, will also be coming to America to join in a New York City protest on June 6, 2010 against a mosque in NYC.
Human Rights Begins with Human Freedoms
Both the EDL and the SIOE groups claim to be protesting such existing and planned mosques to protest “radical Islam,” and in the case of the SIOE on behalf of “democracy.”
But who is the “radical” when they seek to stop others from having freedom of worship? What are the “democratic” values in seeking to intimidate others from seeking the right to believe at mosques? How can anyone be promoting human rights by seeking to deny freedom of conscience at a house of worship?
Since many such protesters claim to be Christian, what type of example do they think they are setting for those oppressed Christians in other parts of the world whose churches are regularly protested, worship services disrupted, worshipers attacked, and even churches targeted for terrorism? Are they determined to prove that they can be just as intolerant and disrespectful of our universal human rights regarding other people’s freedom of religion?
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) promotes freedom of religion, freedom of worship, and freedom of conscience as our unqualified, universal human rights. We challenge those who deny such universal human rights.
Religious freedom, freedom to worship, and freedom of conscience is defined in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”
There is no caveat to these inalienable human rights, no asterisks, no qualifiers. Those who promote religious extremism of any kind may not respect these inalienable human rights. But those who reject, disrespect, and defy such universal human rights do not change the rights of all people, everywhere to such universal human rights.
If we are to defend such human rights, we must be consistent in our convictions for all people, not just for some people. We don’t have to like others, agree with others, or support other faiths – to recognize that the only way to fight for human rights is to be consistent in defending human freedom for all people, everywhere. People that we like and people like us are not the only ones with a right to believe and a right to freedom of worship. People we don’t like and disagree with have a right to believe. We either support universal human rights or not – there is no “relative” human rights just for some people, some times, in some places. But remember, even if we choose not to support such universal human rights, all people will still be entitled to them.
People in every part of the world of every faith have a right to freedom of worship.
We cannot struggle for human rights if we do not acknowledge and respect such basic human freedoms.
We cannot build any consensus of humanity to effect change based on hate and violence.
Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.
Across the world, we see a steady stream of news reports by those who seek to deny others freedom of conscience and freedom of worship. Whatever your religion (or none at all), you can be certain that houses of worship are being protested, vandalized, or bombed around the world – and your freedom of conscience is under attack.
Google news keeps a steady stream of reports on attacks on houses of worship under topics such as “church vandalism,” “temple vandalism,” “mosque vandalism,” and “synagogue vandalism.” There are so many attacks on houses of worship around the world, it is almost impossible to keep up with the endless list of hate and violence.
Global Violence and Hate against Religious Centers
In Asia, Africa, Middle East, Europe, and the United States, such violence against houses of worship and religious adherents is a widespread disease of hate. But whoever is responsible for such violence, whatever such groups and individuals claim to believe, and whatever their “rationale” may be – there is no doubt that Hate is Hate – no matter who, why, what, where, or how. We must challenge such hate against our fellow human beings and those who would deny our universal human right to freedom of religion and freedom of conscience for all people.
Such global violence against religious centers is so widespread and so numerous, the incidents cannot be thoroughly summarized. Moreover, such global violence against religious centers and people of every different faith continue on a near-daily basis around the world. Hate and intolerance knows no boundaries.
For context, however, here are some of the major areas of such hate that Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has seen:
— In Communist China, government forces have destroyed Christian churches, kidnap religious leaders, arrested worshipers, and sought to disrupt worship services. The authorities have destroyed Uighur Muslim mosques and harassed Uighur Muslims. The Communist Chinese authorities have harassed, arrested, tortured, and imprisoned practitioners of the Falun Gong. While some report and protest such abuses, international government leaders often look the other way. But many are undaunted in the face of such totalitarian hatred, and they defy the Communist Chinese government with their worship services.
— In Pakistan, mobs have gone to burn down Christian homes and churches, and Hindu temples have been destroyed. Christian children and Hindu children have been harassed, kidnapped, and forcibly converted, and religious minorities are targeted for oppression, violence, and murder. Both non-Muslims and Muslims have suffered under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. In Pakistan, Shiite Muslim minorities continue to suffer in terrorism attacks in April and February 2010 and December 2009, and have suffered Taliban terrorist attacks on Shiite Muslim mosques.
— Elsewhere, in Asia, in Malaysia, we have seen arson attacks on eleven churches in January 2010, as well as stoning of a Sikh temple and a pig’s head left outside a mosque. The Malaysian authorities have seized Christian Bibles. In Indonesia, attacks on churches are frequently reported including bomb threats, this has included large mobs burning down churches – repeatedly, as well as officials shutting churches down, and protesters calling for the closure of Christian churches. Indonesian Christian worship services are disrupted, including disruption of holiday worship services. To send a message of hatred against Indonesian Christians, terrorists who beheaded three Indonesia girls attending a Christian school, one murdered girl’s head was left outside of a Christian church. Also in Indonesia, Muslim minorities are protested, harassed, and their mosques are burned down. In Indonesia protests against Muslim minority mosques, and in protests and attacks against Christian churches, protesters have chanted outside to “kill” those whose faith they do not accept. In Afghanistan, we see almost daily reports of the Taliban group attacking people of all faiths, and they have attacked Muslim mosques. On April 19, 2010, the Taliban executed the vice mayor of Kandahar while he was praying in a Muslim mosque (Sadozo mosque).
— In Australia, a recent attack on a Hindu temple led to $5,000 of damage, with significant construction damage on the facility.
— In the Middle East, such religious hate has become too accepted within the cultural norms of too many. In Iraq, Christian students were recently targeted in a massive bombing on their buses. But as U.S. forces withdraw from Iraq, the continuing regular terrorist attacks mostly against Sunni or Shiite Muslims throughout Iraq, including mosques, are largely ignored now by much of the mainstream media. In Egypt, Coptic Christians were the targets of a terrorist attack in January as they exited their house of worship, their houses of worship are attacked, and Copts are regularly killed, threatened with death, kidnapped, arrested, attacked with acid, attacked by mobs, and harassed for their faith.
In the West Bank, Muslim mosques are repeatedly attacked, and in Israel, Jewish synagogues are repeatedly targeted by bombs and missiles.
— In Africa, hate and violence against people of faith also knows no boundaries of borders or faith. In Nigeria, shameful violence between Muslims and Christians have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of both, with the destruction of churches and mosques. Christian pastors have been beheaded and hacked to death. Over 20 churches have been destroyed, and there have been multiple reports over time of Christian churches burned down. In Nigeria, there were over 200 killed in January 2010 riots between Christians and Muslims, with bodies stacked up in mosques, and there were 500 Christians murdered in March 2010. Nigeria has a long history of sectarian hatred between religious groups – in 2006, a Nigerian Christian man was quoted after attacks and burning of Muslim mosques as stating “We don’t want these mosques here any more. These people are causing all the problems all over the world because they don’t fear God.” In Somalia, sectarian clashes among Muslim groups have led to attacks on mosques, including a recent May 2010 bombing of a mosque that killed 45 worshipers, an attack that was horrifically praised by the Westboro Baptist Church.
— In Europe, violence against houses of worship is also becoming routine. In Germany, on May 18 a Jewish synagogue was the target of an arsonist attack, indicative of the many attacks against synagogues and Jews around the world, including attacks in the United States. The hatred against Jews rampant throughout Europe is so diverse that German authorities are not yet sure who the perpetrators are. In the United Kingdom, hatred has led to attacks on religious facilities of diverse faiths, including a recent arson attack on a church in Cambridgeshire, arson attacks on British synagogues (more than 100 arson attacks on UK synagogues since 2000) the Cradley Heath Islamic Center that was burned to the ground in December 2009, and an April 16, 2010 attack on a mosque in the Eccles suburb of Manchester.
— In the United States of America, hate attacks on houses of worship are pandemic in the United States, with the FBI reporting 1,500 incidents of hate crimes against Jewish synagogues, Christian churches, Muslim mosques, and other houses of worship. Nazis, white supremacists, and people of diverse religious views have been involved in such attacks. “Christian” messages have been part of vandalism on Muslim mosques and Buddhist temples. A recent attack on a Buddhist temple in the United States has shown it to be the victim of repeated vandalism, including previous “pro-Christian” graffiti on the Buddhist temple that stated “Jesus saves.”
Many of these attacks have been designed to send a very specific message of hatred to undermine and defy human beings’ right to freedom of religion and freedom of worship. In Los Angeles, a Hispanic Christian church was vandalized with a cross defiled and a knife in a painting of the Virgin Mary. In Tennessee, a mosque was vandalized with with the message “Muslims go home.”
Such hate can lead to terrorist attacks in every nation, including the United States, which saw a terrorist attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC on June 10, 2009. On May 10, 2010, a terrorist attacked a mosque in Jacksonville, Florida with a pipe bomb and gasoline.
In the United States alone, there has been a steady stream of individuals accused of terrorist acts and plots, associated with religious extremism and extremism. Such major figures in recent American news reports have included: Nidal Hassan, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Faisal Shahzad, and the Hutaree militia. But the list and the numbers of those who channel their hatred of people of other religions and religious institutions is an ever-growing fire of anti-human rights rage that continues to destroy people’s lives, families, cities, and even their houses of worship around the world.
To work towards an end to such terrorism, we must first work towards an end to such hatred, disrespect, and contempt for each other’s universal human rights. For some people, some organizations, and even some nations, that must begin with acknowledging the very existence of our unqualified, universal human rights.
Certainly there are many attacks that we have not mentioned in this incomplete summary of some of the violence against houses of worship and religious faiths that we have seen. Nor have we tried to catalog the numbers of attacks by individual faiths. In different parts of the world, there are more attacks on some faiths’ houses of worship than on others. We readily recognize and acknowledge this fact. But whether there are more attacks on churches, synagogues, mosques, or Hindu or Buddhist temples really is not our point.
The point is that such attacks anywhere on houses of worship of any faith are attacks everywhere on all of our freedom of religion, freedom of worship, and freedom to believe. You may have noticed that a burned down mosque, synagogue, church, or temple all essentially look alike – that was the point of including such images together. Like our human rights, hate is also universal – and the consequences of hate are also the same.
The balance we are seeking is found in our consistent support of such universal human rights – not in choosing that such rights are only important when selected houses of worship of faiths are attacked. Hate is hate and it is always wrong, and always a challenge to our universal human rights.
Amidst these global waves of hate and violence against houses of worship, we should be seeing broader and more frequent calls from community and religious leaders to defy and condemn such attacks. But a response by such leaders is not enough, because such global attacks on our right to freedom of conscience and right to worship freely is not just their responsibility. It is our responsibility. It is our responsibility to equality and liberty for all people of all faiths (including those whose conscience reject organized religions) to defend all of our fellow human beings’ right to believe and to worship.
Relative Freedom of Religion or Universal Freedom of Religion?
A growing trend among some is the belief that our universal human rights of freedom of religion, conscience, and worship are somehow “relative” to certain parts of the world, certain faiths, and only certain situations. There is a growing trend that some want to call for relative freedom of religion – only for their faith, their conscience – and only when it suits them where they live. Some are determined to try to “tailor” such human rights to only those faiths, those beliefs, those forms of worship they approve. Such relativists believe that where they live, the universal human rights of freedom of worship only exists for those they agree with and can tolerate.
But relative human rights are no human rights. Relative freedom of religion, conscience, and worship is no freedom of religion, conscience, and worship. Such relativism is a cancer to human rights progress because some get the illusion of tolerance, respect, and even freedom – just until there isn’t. Freedom of religion, conscience, and worship must extend not only to people like us and people we like, but also to those who we disagree with, don’t approve of, and even those who challenge the very human rights and freedoms we all enjoy.
We cannot decide that for some religions that we like in some areas of the world, that they have the right to build houses of worship, and for religions that we don’t like that they do not have the right to build houses of worship.
A universal human right of freedom of religion is not “relative” to only those we agree with and to only certain parts of the world.
Such inalienable human rights for all people is the human code of conduct that supports laws to ensure orderly life, a standard of respect and human dignity that we each should expect, and most importantly, the trust that we must find within each other as human beings for continued co-existence on our shared Earth.
We ensure equality and liberty on a local level, in part, by ensuring that no one is above the law. On a global level, the stakes and the consequences for world peace are even greater. If we seek peace, dignity, and justice, we must also agree that no one is above our unqualified, universal human rights.
No one is “above the law” of our universal human rights, and no one has the right to deny our freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, and freedom of worship – by anyone, any place, at any time.
Our commitment to such universal human rights also requires a commitment to pluralism for all faiths. We don’t have to agree with each other on our religious views, or lack thereof, but we do have to respect each others right to our own beliefs.
We have a right to disagree with those who we believe are using religious faiths to promote extremist hatred that attacks on our universal human rights. Moreover, we cannot ignore those who would use a religious disguise to incite criminal violence which we must reject. Inciting and committing criminal violence is not a protected religious right or worship. But too often, those who seek “relative” human rights seek mere disagreement with those of other faiths as a justification to prevent their freedom of religion and freedom of worship.
We also have an obligation to respect each others universal human rights for all faiths, conscience, and freedom of worship – no matter who seeks such freedoms, no matter where they seek such freedoms, no matter how much we may disagree with them.
Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”
On December 10, 1948, the nations of the world joined together to create a Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on December 10, 1948 as the world’s statement of “Never Again” to the hate of people of diverse races, religions, ethnic backgrounds, and beliefs. Seen in the context of the world reeling from the Nazi Holocaust of 6 million Jews, the UDHR remains one of the strongest international statements on consistent human rights for all people, and for people of all faiths. But when it comes to a right to worship freely, “never again” is now in too many parts of the world.
Such universal human rights and commitment to pluralism must not only extend to the nations that are signatories to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but also to all nations and all people around the world. But to reach those individuals and nations that do not accept such unqualified, universal human rights of freedom of conscience, it is essential that those who do – set an example for the world.
We urge the people of the world to make a new consistent commitment to pluralism and to our unqualified, universal human rights. We stand united together, respecting our differences, and respecting one another. We are one common civilization of humanity, with diverse races, ethnic backgrounds, languages, genders, and religions. But we are all one human race. While we respect our differences, a consistent commitment to pluralism requires our united commitment to our unqualified, universal human rights – including the right to believe for all people, everywhere – without harassment, without intimidation, and without violence.
We urge such commitment to all people and their right to freedom of worship, to set an example to all others that we are Responsible for Equality and Liberty.
Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.
When we promote cartoons that mock an individual religion, race, gender, or ethnicity, are we mocking them – or mocking human dignity?
In April 2010, a controversial U.S. comedy television cartoon “South Park” censored one of their broadcasts which was to include a cartoon of Muhammad along with other religious figures in their cartoon, after receiving threats from the New York blog “Revolution Muslim.” As a response to the South Park censorship, one cartoonist, Molly Norris, came up with the satirical suggestion to make May 20 as “Draw Muhammad Day.” Molly Norris was shocked that people took her “joke” seriously, and planned to indeed hold a “Draw Muhammad Day” on May 20; Ms. Norris has since called for this to be canceled, but some still plan to do this.
Despite the predictable offense to Muslims, a number of cartoonists have done cartoons of Muhammad and Muslims. Cartoons of Muhammad have been done and published by Swedish artist Lars Vilks and by Danish political cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. There has been an extreme reaction to these (and other) cartoons. Lars Vilks was recently assaulted during a lecture on free speech in Sweden, and was the target of a transatlantic murder plot that including two American women promoting violent jihad. In January 2010, Kurt Westergaard’s home was broken into by a man with an axe and a knife. Both have received numerous death threats. There have been numerous threats and protests by Muslims offended by cartoon of Muhammad. Such outrage is not limited only to violent extremists, as many Muslims view images of Muhammad to be disrespectful to their religious views.
Nor is such outrage limited to individuals and groups. On April 15, 2008, the Pakistan National Assembly passed a resolution to urge the United Nations to support an international death penalty for those responsible for such cartoon “blasphemy.” This Pakistan National Assembly session was attended by Pakistan Prime Minister Gilani, “who arrived moments after the passage of the resolutions.” So while it may be comforting to only subscribe such concerns to a few “radicals” in groups like “Revolution Muslim,” clearly there is a broader group around the world who find such cartoons outrageous enough to warrant “capital punishment.”
In the West, there have been a number of articles on this subject by Muslim authors, explaining why Muslims are offended by such cartoons. On Muslim author, Shahed Amanulla, decries the idea of “Draw Muhammad Day” as “Collectively Punishing Muslim Americans.” Another Muslim author, Zahed Amanullah, states that while he is offended by such cartoons, “For many Muslims, pointing to a cartoon, a teddy bear, or a voodoo doll and saying it’s the prophet, doesn’t make it so. We know better than to worship them.” Mr. Amanullah clearly states that there is diversity of opinion on this subject among Muslims.
Public comments to such articles by Muslim authors often complain that they don’t sufficiently defend our human rights of freedom of expression. So I am writing this from the perspective of a non-Muslim supporter of our universal human rights, with a statement on our responsibility for human dignity, a message to non-Muslim readers, and a message to Muslim readers.
Human Rights and Responsibilities include Human Dignity
Does our human rights include the “right” to be offensive? Yes, they do. But along with our rights also come responsibilities that are inherent in any shared society. That includes the responsibility to also defend each others’ human dignity. Such commitment to human dignity is a fundamental part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed by the United States of America and other nations of the world.
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
Human dignity is also recognized in the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which recognizes “the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.” The signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948 by the nations of the world included a statement that the United Nations recognized such rights as part of their respect “in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women.”
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created in the aftermath of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany, a nation that brought crimes against humanity to a level not previously witnessed by mankind. But one of the Nazis’ first tool to degrade and attack human dignity was Julius Streicher’s Der Sturmer newspaper created in 1923; Streicher was inspired to join the Nazi party after hearing an Adolf Hitler speech in 1921.
From 1923 through the end of Nazi Germany, Der Sturmer (“the Attacker”) was a publication that attacked the humanity and dignity of Jews in Germany and around the world, using “cartoons.” The notorious Der Sturmer cartoons were historically significant in spreading images to degrade Jews and portray them as enemies against Germans and all of humanity. The Der Sturmer anti-Semitic newspaper and cartoons were used to spread hate against Jews throughout Germany among the common man, and were distributed to Germans in countries around the world. The Calvin College states that the distribution reached over 2 million readers at one point. Along with the cartoons degrading and spreading hatred towards Jews, Der Sturmer’s fevered pitch of hate against Jews called for extermination of the Jewish people, for which Julius Streicher was tried and convicted of war crimes. The Nuremberg courts that convicted him warned of “the poison that he has put into the minds of millions of young boys and girls will continue on for years to come, since he concentrated so much of his hatred for the Jews.”
Anyone who has seen the Der Sturmer cartoons and articles can readily see the truth in this. Jews were caricatured in hateful ways that did not end with Nazi Germany. The hate cartoons by Der Sturmer and others sought to degrade, dehumanize, and strip the dignity from Jews. Yet the Der Sturmer hate cartoons remain alive on the Internet, and are part of the root web site of the “white nationalist hate group” Stormfront in America. In America, the Der Sturmer cartoons are viewed as part of our freedom of expression – despite all the horrors that they contributed to.
How can humanity not have learned its lessons after seeing the consequences of demonizing and degrading identity groups in Nazi Germany? But we know it did not and has not. Even as the United States of America was signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, offensive cartoons continued to appear and have continued to appear over the decades — especially about black Americans.
Nor have such offensive cartoons been limited to only “fringe” organizations, or relegated only to distant history. Racial caricature cartoons of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have appeared in the Washington Post and many other publications. The parade of racial caricature cartoons of President Barack Obama have been in many places.
Iran has hosted an International Holocaust Cartoon Competition of its own for those who deny that the Holocaust took place. In many parts of the Arab press (as well as the Western media), anti-Semitic cartoons degrading and dehumanizing Jews and Israeli leaders have been commonly published for many years.
There seems to be no end of ways to create offensive cartoons about any race, religion, gender, or national origin. Mocking the human dignity of others in offensive cartoons depicting men, women, children seems to be the great equalizer of those promoting disrespect and some cases, outright hatred. Still, offensive cartoons have been defended by our freedom of expression.
We respect such universal human rights. But we also recognize, as did the United Nations in their Universal Declaration of Human Rights that all human beings are also equal in dignity as well. Such human dignity is not just a right, it is also a responsibility.
A Message to Non-Muslim Readers
Cartoons about Muhammad has caused an outcry of indignation by offended Muslims, especially in Muslim majority nations. To non-Muslim readers, I am aware that one of the main reasons for the continued popularity of cartoons about Muhammad and Muslims to some non-Muslims is a defiance to those telling you that you are not allowed to do this. The perspective is “I’ll show them what I can and cannot do. I’ll show them about how they seek to silence my freedom of expression.” People like to win arguments, and they don’t like being told what they can and cannot express. But there is also a point at which your reason must also win over your emotions of frustration.
There are many things that we are “free” to do, but we do not do out of respect for others, as part of civil society, and to peacefully co-exist. We are free to spit on our neighbor’s lawn, but if we want to be good neighbors that live in peace, we do not. Do you feel deprived, censored, from not offending your neighbor? Of course not. You know better. You have to live together.
But when it comes to cartoons about Muhammad and Muslims, such reason seems to disappear. Some seek to demonize Muslims in cartoons to prove their “freedom of expression.” What do you really think you are accomplishing by offending Muslims? Do you think that demonizing Muslims will impact religious extremism or extremism? What minds do you think contempt will change? What hearts do you think disrespect will reach?
Some non-Muslims are simply angry, tired of being threatened, and want to “strike back” at religious extremists by targeting all Muslims. Have you considered that by seeking to offend all Muslims to get back at religious extremists that you have judged all Muslims as one, singular monolithic group that must all think and believe the same way? How different is it for non-Muslims to condemn all Muslims than it is for Muslim religious extremists to condemn all non-Muslims unequivocally?
In your anger and frustration, aren’t you becoming exactly what you seek to condemn?
What really infuriates many of you is the inconsistency on public condemnations of offensive expressions. This is especially the case among many Christians, whose images are regularly defiled and disgraced in art galleries, national television, on the Internet. Some believe that “well, if our religious views can be mocked, why can’t theirs?” But you also know “two wrongs don’t make a right.” Christians also are commanded to love their fellow human beings. Currently a popular anti-Islam website has an image of the cartoon character “Calvin” urinating on the Qur’an. It is no small irony that the image is simply a Photoshop modification of the cartoon character “Calvin” urinating on the Christian cross, or anything else someone respects.
You can choose to be different from those whose actions outrage you, or you can choose to be no different. Which choice do you think will gain you credibility in the world? Have we learned nothing from humanity’s history of living together?
A Message to Muslim Readers
To Muslim readers, it is reasonable to expect respect and human dignity. It is reasonable to expect that your religious views and images are not offended. Such human dignity is both a right and a responsibility. However, we must all recognize that statements and images that we merely view as offensive are not a crime. We may view such images and comments as disrespectful, contemptible, but we also know that “two wrongs don’t make a right.” While the majority of the likely Muslim readers are no doubt stating, “of course, I know that,” the reality is that in many parts of the world (including in the West), there are those who continue to seek to punish “blasphemy” with capital punishment – either legally or by taking the law into their own hands and claiming they are divinely guided.
To challenge such views, it is essential that more Muslims are visible to the public in supporting our unqualified, universal human rights, and are visible to the public taking exception to those who would defy such freedoms. We need more public demonstrations of our shared commitment for human rights, pluralism, and dignity – and not just on the Internet or in conference rooms, but in the public together.
I know that you have other things to do with your life besides condemning Muslim extremists and other extremists. You have family, school, job, and other responsibilities that demand your time and attention. But the hope for peace for the next generation is largely dependent on the history that we write today. Whether that history is only written by the angry and the offensive or whether that history is written by those committed to our universal human rights – is our decision. We must continue to defend such human rights by defying religious extremists who would rationalize violence and hate against others.
I offer Muslim readers the opportunity on May 20 to publicly express online their own commitment to our universal human rights and pluralism, as a counter to “Draw Muhammad Day.” Provide your responses on your commitment to our universal human rights and pluralism via at info@realcourage.org, and they will be shared with the world on Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)’s web site at RealCourage.org.
I invite you to use May 20 as an opportunity to publicly show that you are larger than those who would mock you and share your convictions on our shared human rights and pluralism.
Our Choices, Our Responsibilities
Contempt and hate have the same universal application, regardless of our religion, race, gender, or ethnicity.
But we can choose a different path. Instead of choosing universal contempt, we can choose a path of universal human rights and dignity.
We share a common conscience towards how we treat humanity and how respect each other. We share a common responsibility to our shared universal human rights. We share a common obligation to upholding each others human dignity.
I have dusted off one of my own “cartoon” characters from when I was a small boy, a stick man figure that I used to call “Mr. Blank.” I have added him here to make a point – anyone can make a cartoon, everyone has free expression. It is our choice and our responsibility how we use that free expression.
We are Responsible for Equality And Liberty.
In defending those universal human rights, we are also Responsible for Human Dignity.
Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.
