We the People
August 27, 2017 by Bilal Sultan
Facing the future sounds scary. We do not know what will happen and for all we know, it could be disaster or utopia. But the future is what we live for. It is the most important thing in our lives, despite how unpredictable it is. Yet, there is one solution to make the future less fearful for all of us: facing it together and working together. We need to start thinking less along the lines of “me”, and more along the lines of “us”. There is a reason why all of us are here together and living this wonderful life in all sorts of emotions. Humans are social animals. Therefore, we should have more face-to-face contact, build new and greater relationships, and strengthen existing ones. It is in each handshake that each of us become more united with each other. With each word we speak, we change the world around us. Our identity is crucial and part of our life. We need to keep the story alive about each of our cultures and faiths. We cannot lose what is important to us. It is what tells what makes each of us unique. It is how we learn new things every day. It changes us to become what we are now. So, what does this mean in terms of what we have to do? We need to do is work together to change the future for the better. We the people will do what we need to change and create our own beautiful future. We the people will face this new future. We the people will fix the problems TOGRTHER!
Religious Freedom and the 4th of July
July 6, 2017 by Jay Tyson
221 years ago, the Founders of our nation wrote a document that has echoed across the world and down through the generations since that time. Among the principles it proclaimed was that the main purpose of government is to protect the rights of the people to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When the Constitution was written, about a decade later, it amplified this theme by listing some of those rights in the first 10 amendments, called the Bill of Rights. One was the right to follow the religion of one's choice.
This principle has served our country well. It has prevented the religious strife that has enveloped many other countries at one point or another. It has addressed contentious issues through dialogue and legal reasoning. And it has enabled us to assimilate an ever-widening portion of humanity into this great country.
Initially, it found expression by acceptance of a wide variety of Protestants, many of whom were rejected in various countries of Europe. Later, there were large Catholic influxes, which worried some Americans at the time, but the principle of religious liberty was upheld. At another stage, acceptance of Jewish immigrants was an issue. Today, acceptance of people of Muslim, Sikh and Hindu backgrounds is sometimes an issue.
These more recent immigrants give us the opportunity to practice anew what our Founding Fathers set down at the beginning: To affirm that all people have the right to believe and to practice their religion without interference from the government or from other people. The affirmation of this liberty is the true expression of American patriotism, worthy of celebration on July 4th and throughout the year.
