For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew- or a Quaker or a Unitarian or a Baptist. It was Virginia’s harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that helped lead to Jefferson’s statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the victim, but tomorrow it may be you – until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril.
-Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1960
The local Jewish community newspaper in St. Louis ran the following editorial. It was triggered by Oklahoma passing a constitutional amendment banning judges from considering Sharia (and international laws) in their judicial opinions. The editoralist does not see a lot of legal danger from this amendment, but finds the attitude behind the passing of the amendment very dangerous.
The link: For Whom the Law Tolls
I’m just so proud to be an Okie…not.
The “other” is always an easy target – even with ourselves.
The real point is ….we all need to have a way to live our lives….
why must we fight about what our choice is… we all seek the same path. Our goal is to take care of others as we care for ourselves, to take care of ourselves as we take care of others.
When we think that our way is best, we stop caring about others. It destroys us.
Once again, it all comes down to the Golden Rule.
In the words of Rodney King: “CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?”
Many may hear the phrase as “CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ‘ALONE’?”
“They came for the Communists, and I didn’t object – For I wasn’t a Communist;
They came for the Socialists, and I didn’t object – For I wasn’t a Socialist;
They came for the labor leaders, and I didn’t object – For I wasn’t a labor leader;
They came for the Jews, and I didn’t object -For I wasn’t a Jew;
Then they came for me – And there was no one left to object.”
– Martin Niemoller, German Protestant Pastor, 1892-1984