Charles Haynes

by Jeremy Leaming

The year included some high-profile discussion, thanks to the Wall Street protests, of the nation's growing gap between the super wealthy and everyone else, and rightly so with study after study showing a clear trend of wealth redistribution to the top 1 percent of earners. (Though apparently large numbers of Americans are unaware or unconcerned about the hard truth.)

But the year also included a heated debate much more recognizable to Americans – over ongoing religious-fueled controversies. Yet one probably wonders does it matter. Does religious strife, serious or superfluous, ever subside? More importantly, however, are the questions and concerns that have yet to be clearly resolved over the parameters of the Constitution's religious liberty clauses. 

For example, as highlighted by Laurie Goodstein of The New York Times, some Catholic bishops are dumping certain tax-payer supported charities instead of complying with the federal government’s requirement that such programs be operated in a manner that does not discriminate against groups of people, such as lesbians and gay men. The bishops argue that their religious groups’ First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion is being subverted by the government’s demand that they provide adoption services to same-sex couples.

Civil liberties groups, however, believe that the free exercise of religion does not mean that religious groups have an absolute right to trump the federal government’s power to enforce civil rights laws.

The First Amendment Center’s Director of the Religious Freedom Education Project Charles Haynes highlights another strand of controversy, proclaiming anti-Muslim bigotry is the “religion story of the year.”

Haynes cites a recent decision by Lowe’s, a Home Depot competitor, to yank advertising from a “reality” television show, “All-American Muslim.” Lowe's pulled its ads at the behest of a “conservative Christian group called the Florida Family Association.” But Haynes notes this is just one controversy in a number of actions that have unfolded nationwide that expose a “growing anti-Muslim movement in the United States.” Haynes has noted anti-Mosque protests, and the efforts of state lawmakers to pass anti-Shariah legislation.

Haynes notes, however, that supporters of religious freedom for all believers are pushing back in the face of an obstinate movement. (He reports that an array of religious groups is banding together to protest the decision by Lowe’s.)

To mark the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which took nearly three thousand American lives, First Lady Michelle Obama is urging Americans to follow her lead by serving others.

In a White House e-mail, the first lady writes that we should all be inspired by the "heroism and selflessness of so many of my fellow Americans in the wake of this tragedy."

She continues:

From the brave men and women of Flight 93 who sacrificed their own lives to save the lives of others, to the first responders who rushed without hesitation to help those in need, to the young men and women who chose to join our Armed Forces following the attacks - these tragic events united Americans in a remarkable spirit of solidarity and compassion.

It's that spirit of selflessness and service that inspired the first September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance last year. On this day all Americans can honor the brave men and women who lost and risked their lives by serving others in their community.

The e-mail notes that Mrs. Obama will be working with Mission Serve to help renovate a community center for veterans.

First Amendment scholar Charles Haynes writes that he fears "acts of service meant to unify the nation may be overshadowed by acts of intolerance intended to divide. Haynes, director of the First Amendment Center's Religious Freedom Education Project, notes the planned anti-mosque rally in New York. "The New York event planned for 9/11," Haynes writes, "will feature speakers like Geert Wilders, a virulently anti-Islam Dutch lawmaker who says ‘there is no such thing as ‘moderate Islam'' and calls for banning the Quran - which he labels a ‘fascist book.'"

But Haynes concludes:

On this ninth anniversary of 9/11, Americans of goodwill can only hope that quiet acts of compassion will ultimately eclipse loud expressions of hate.

It's a sentiment that Michelle Obama is today advancing.