8/25/2010: UO Professor Matt Dennis has a good RG Op-Ed about the “mosque” at ground-zero. Putting his name to a piece like this takes a little more courage than talking to the usual campus crowd. It’s also the most important part of the job of being a history professor:
Most importantly, the false patriotism of Park51 opponents violates the U.S. Constitution and Americans’ indispensable right to religious freedom. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religious practice and protects our particular religious observances from interference and repression. Such toleration and freedom was championed not merely for its own sake but because our framers recognized the diversity of believers in the United States. In our pluralistic country, no faith is safe if any faith is oppressed on the one hand, or officially institutionalized on the other. Fear does not change this formula for freedom, and Americans should display enough courage and confidence to uphold their laws and their principles against fear-mongering demagogues.
Professor Dennis is certainly doing his job.
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