Reasonable people can disagree about whether the Cordoba Initiative should be permitted to build an Islamic center two blocks from where the Twin Towers stood before 9/11. However, there is a disturbing sentiment floating around the political right that we should be able to selectively revoke the religious freedom of certain individuals or groups because we disagree with their religious beliefs. This was recently exemplified on Fox "News" by Bill Kristol and Liz Cheney (see Think Progress).
Referring to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, founder of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, Cheney suggested that religious freedom should not apply.
KRISTOL: It’s just ludicrous. That’s not — his intention is not a good intention. Whether it can be stopped legally, I don’t know. Can people appeal to him and say, as the ADL did, to say, “This is counterproductive by your own…” — leaving aside his funding which is dubious and has terror-related connections, leaving aside past statements of him — “…is this the right thing to do?” I mean really.Think Progress notes that Liz Cheney's Keep America Safe, the Weekly Standard, or the FBI have provided any evidence of Abdul Rauf's alleged connections to terrorist groups. What Abdul Rauf is undeniably guilty of, however, is disagreeing with Liz Cheney. Is that enough to strip him of religious freedom?
CHENEY: I think that it’s exactly those things, the issue of his funding, and the issue of his past statements that take this out of the realm of freedom of religion. When you’ve got an Imam that has got the very questionable and dubious ties to radical Islamist organizations that this man does, saying he’s going to build a mosque at Ground Zero, I think we as Americans have every right to say, “No you’re not going to do that.”








