Tolerance is a Two-Way Street

1.1 I had a vigorous discussion with a dear friend about this subject. It seems that many people, when confronted with aggressive ideologies such as Islam, seek to compromise or negotiate, rather than stand up on their rights.

1.2 All people have the right to express themselves (non-violently) and to defend their freedoms and persons. These two are self-evident as rights of man, and are enshrined in the first two amendments to the US Constitution:

1. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
2. A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

1.3 Self-expression and self-defense (necessarily implied in defense of the State) are again basic human rights. Freedom of speech is meaningless without the means to defend it.

1.4 Note very carefully that I am advocating self-defense, the defense of innocents, and the defense of State, and nothing else. Since I am not advocating criminal violence, no one can suggest that I have "incited" anyone to violence.

1.5 It is tragic that European countries often do not have constitutional rights to self-defense. In other cases, European citizens simply do not have the will to bear arms. If they did, they would not be terrorized by Islamist thugs. They would also not be terrorized by local thugs such as Anders Breivik. If Norwegians were like Floridians, the people on Utoya island would have stopped Breivik very quickly, and saved many lives.

1.7 All of this means simply that we have a right to live, and to believe as we do, and others have an obligation to respect those rights. If we are to put up with someone else's religion, they must put up with ours.

1.8 This is the true meaning of "tolerance". It is most definitely not agreeing with our opponents or trying to appease them, as some people falsely teach. To the contrary, tolerance is allowing our opponents to live and believe as they do, despite that we disagree. Tolerance is a truce, not a compromise. (Tolerance also allows civil discourse and debate.)

1.9 Now a consortium of Muslims have obtained land in New York city, for the purpose of building a mosque and Islamic cultural center, close to the site of the 9-11-2001 attack by Islamic terrorists. This "Ground Zero Mosque" (GZM) is sited on land on which the landing gear of one of the 9-11 airplanes fell. It really is in effect on Ground Zero.

2.0 In light of this, and since the Muslims plan to open the GZM on the tenth anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, one of two things is true: either the Muslims are making a memorial in the name of peace between us, or else they are erecting a triumphal mosque as they have done on the sites of churches in many nations. The answer to that question is not pertinent here.

2.1 What matters, a so many say, is tolerance. Now, with all due respect to those who died on 9-11, and to their families, and all others impacted by the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, I say this. I am willing to tolerate the mosque being built on Ground Zero or practically anywhere else. I will tolerate Muslims doing anything legal and civil in this nation.

2.2 Only one thing I would require in return. Muslims are building a mosque on American land against the will of 70% of the American people, many of whom regard Ground Zero as sacred. Therefore, let a church be built in the sacred city of Mecca.

2.3 In fact, for every mosque being built in these United States, let one church, synagogue, or secular cultural center, be built in an Islamic nation. Let Muslims tolerate our beliefs as we tolerate theirs.

2.4 My dear friend's objection to this was that Islamic nations do not have freedom of religion, and so cannot be expected to tolerate ours. Tolerance, she wrote, "is NOT a two-way street".

2.5 Yes it is. Any amicable relationship is a two-way street. Marriage, for example, requires that the partners share and agree on many things, and "agree to disagree" on others. Marriage without tolerance is abusive.

2.6 Tolerance, the real kind I mean, definitely includes relationships between nations. If Muslims want freedom of religion for themselves in this or any nation, they must extend the same freedom to the citizens of those nations.

2.7 It does not matter if their Islamic laws do not support freedom of religion; these laws will need to change to reflect human rights. All the vociferous claims that "Islam teaches tolerance", etc., are empty lies unless Muslims respect the rights of others.

2.8 Tolerance is definitely a two-way street, and the only alternative to tolerance is intolerance. If the Islamic world cannot learn to tolerate people of other beliefs, there will indeed be intolerance, unrest, and worse. This I say not as a threat, but as a plea for mutual respect against the grim threat of war.