God or Country?
Dear Editor,
In his July 27 letter to the editor titled, “Beware of Fanatical Islam,” Andrew Serrano suggests that American Muslims are not assimilated with the rest of Americans because a PEW report shows that 60 percent consider themselves Muslims first and then Americans.
They are just as assimilated as Christian Americans, Jewish Americans, and Buddhist Americans if 60 percent of them consider their religion to take precedence over their patriotism. It is in the essential nature of all religions that God is greater than Country. It is no different in America.
Case in point: Some years back, the 4th of July fell on Sunday. Thus Morgan Hill’s Fourth of July parade (blaring bands and all) had to pass the largest local Christian congregation during worship service. A Fourth of July parade is about as distilled a celebration of pure patriotism, i.e., Americanism, as there is. In this unintended but unavoidable clash between the interest of patriotism and the interest of religion, a sizable number of individuals in the Christian congregation came forward to say in no uncertain terms that the interference of the parade with their practice of religion was intolerable because God was more important than patriotism.
The right of those individuals to say that God is more important than country is an exercise of Freedom of Religion – something that every American should feel willing to defend at significant cost. The right to vote, freedom of religion (which is all that South County’s American Muslims ask for in seeking to construct a house of worship here), freedom of speech (which Mr. Serrano rightly relishes and exercises), along with the other individual freedoms and protections in the Bill of Rights, are what make being an American precious, are the defining principles of patriotism in America.
When, in our thinking, we lump the fanatics of a religion with the enlightened adherents of that religion, we spread darkness. We exhibit in ourselves the very same kind of intolerance we abhor in the fanatics. We give strength to their cause. The dangerous fallacy in the thinking of Mr. Serrano, Pamela Waring and Diane C. Dawson is this failure to distinguish between the enlightened and unenlightened practice of religion.
In its wisdom, the Bill of Rights in our American Constitution gives the American Muslims in South County every bit as much right to erect a house of worship and to consider God a higher authority than country as it gives each Christian who attends a local church and considers God a higher authority than country. Patriots will support those rights.
Bruce Tichinin, Morgan Hill
The Golden Quill is awarded occasionally for a well-written letter.
Stop Land Annexations
Dear Editor,
I’m glad to read that Morgan Hill will be “greening its operations” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat global warming (“Morgan Hill Joins Bay Area’s ‘Greening’ Efforts to Reduce Global Warming,” July 20) – but it’s going to take more than switching to compact fluorescent lights and installing solar panels.
Half of the Bay Area’s greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation – all that d ming, we need to give people the opportunity to drive less, rather than making development decisions that force us to drive more. We need to build compact, vibrant new neighborhoods with homes close to shops, offices, and good public transit – and we need to stop letting development sprawl out onto our remaining farmland.
If Morgan Hill is truly committed to doing its part, the city should stop annexing land at the urban fringe (as it did last month), and should focus instead on revitalizing the downtown around Caltrain. That would go a long way toward “greening” Morgan Hill.
Michele Beasley, South Bay Field Representative, Greenbelt Alliance
