Individual And Religious Freedom In Our Society

FROM ACROSS THE PACIFIC, An American Citizen:

We've seen it before. We've documented it and we recognize it.

It is the hijacking of a religion in the name of an Almighty.

America is under constant attack in the physical world and in cyberspace.

Horrific events like Oklahoma City, Columbine, Virginia Tech, 9/11 shook our consciousness, killing and maiming us. Only one twists religion as its primary principle.

We now live in fear, sorrow, pain, suffering as each catastrophic event has permanently altered our way of life.

When we travel (whether domestic or abroad), billions of us must be careful what clothes to wear, what's in the pockets or essentials we travel with like water, shoes, underwear.

We have understandably become a more discerning people as we pursue terrorists seeking to destroy us. We have zero tolerance.

Terrorists now know that, with support from our many allies, we-- and our democracy-- will lead the defense of our way of life, our divine individual freedoms.

Democratic societies value the individual, which is free to choose his or her religion. We are not killed because we express disagreement with principles of a certain religion (or our government). Not surprisingly, societies that protect its people's religious freedom have flourished throughout mankind's history.

So it is important that, as we march forward in our new world, we do not isolate certain faiths or its followers. We must not trample on any people's ability to worship or build places of worship.

The responsibility rests on all individuals who practice a peaceful religion to accord the very same freedom it enjoys for all other faiths and its peaceful followers. The United States Constitution mandates religious freedom as a foundation of our great nation.

We can only advance as a society and a civilization when religious freedom is celebrated and encouraged.

We all must recognize that when any peaceful religion is attacked-- whether we believe its principles or not, the terrorist has prevailed.

We must value the individual, not the ideology. We must then fear the individual, not the peaceful religion.

This era of terrorism and the resulting climate of fear, xenophobia would be no different than the Spanish Inquisition. It would be absurd to conclude that all members of the Catholic faith were evil, cold-hearted sociopaths and murderers who must be prevented from building places of worship.

We cannot ever allow a [relatively] few psychopaths to foster the second-guessing of our Constitution, for which many lives have been sacrificed.