Fringe Movement

Fringe Movement

One of the wonderful things about the strong upholding of personal freedom in America is the complete diversity of views that is ensured and even nurtured. Never will the federal government be able to deny true freedom of speech, and never should they. While the American government is far, far from perfect, the freedoms that are protected in the US are truly one of the most perfect parts of the system.
Because of this liberty, there will always be people who are out-there and fringe movements and polarizing groups. However, there is a difference between, say, the John Burch Society, who believe that fluoride in drinking water will lead to government-sanctioned, secret doses of birth control flowing out of city wells, and a Florida church called ‘The Dove World Outreach Center’ which is planning what they call “International Burn a Quran Day” on September 11, 2010.
Sure, everyone has the right to his or her opinion. However, not only are the Dove World Outreach Center’s actions against the most important post-9/11 message our country received- effectively, that unless we can restructure our inter-faith and international relations, we can expect terrorist attacks, not only upon us but also our allies, because we cannot find a way to communicate with other nation’s governments- but they are dangerous to our national security.
The US government has worked for years to set relations on a positive tone with prominently Islamic Middle-Eastern governments. Today, with American troops stationed in Afghanistan and still in Iraq, with the unsettling nature of the US relationship with Pakistan, it is imperative that, if the American goal to end, or at least smother acts of terror in that area of the world is to be achieved, these relationships are preserved and strengthened, not torn apart by American disregard for the fact that few Muslims actually support the Taliban, that it is a fringe movement not unlike the KKK years ago in the US.
Beyond the security concerns, the Dove World Outreach Center’s plan is born from the sort of hate that breeds violence in America. While it may be legal for the group to go about burning whichever book they feel like- that is, after all, one of the importantly protected freedoms in America- this sort of religious anger is what has torn apart countries in the past. Still today in Israel, battles are fought between two of today’s leading religions, creating an unsafe and, frankly, frightening atmosphere, all because religious cannot learn to coexist.