I Am Intolerant

Yesterday, my brother sent an e-mail to a dozen people.  It was a video about muslims.  He received a couple of responses from people who thought the e-mail was intolerant of muslims, and who made the case that muslims are good people from a religion of peace, and that there are only a 'few' muslims giving bad names to a good religion.  They made the case that Americans are over-reacting and being intolerant of these peaceful people. One lady was absent-minded enough to write that if it wasn't for the muslims who murder, beat and behead their wives and children in the name of shariya law, they would be just like any other Americans.

Hmmmm. 

Although I appreciate moderate positions regarding Islam, or any other topic, I have lots of unanswered questions. I've heard for decades about how good the muslim people are.  If it's true that the majority of American muslims do not support terror and hate, why don't we see more muslims standing up for religious freedom and tolerance?  The Imam who is working on getting a mosque on the site of one of the buildings destroyed on 9/11 has REFUSED to denounce terrorist groups.

I have seen numerous videos of muslims, in MY country, burning American flags and denouncing MY country.  We have American muslims being recruited out of the mosques all around the country.  We have muslims on various campuses in our country who riot and protest whenever a guest speaker shows up who is not a supporter of hamas, or who is Jewish, etc.  These are not isolated incidents, they are routine.

There is a zero tolerance policy among muslims toward Christians, Jews, Hindus, etc.  These same zero-tolerance muslims have refused to denounce terrorist groups around the globe.  There are millions of muslims in the United States and only a few have ever stood up to denounce terrorist groups.

If they are a religion of peace, let them assemble in the streets of America and 'March for Peace' or protest terrorist groups.  I have NEVER seen that happen, even in the ten years since 9/11.

Muslims fathers who murder their children, beat their wives, and behead them for religious infractions, are not examples of extremist muslims in the mountains of Afghanistan, they are real examples of  'mainstream' muslims living in the USA.  The Fort Hood army officer who massacred 8 innocent people is one of many examples of 'mainstream' muslim hatred.  I'm sick of being asked to be 'tolerant' of evil.

I would LOVE to have truly peaceful muslims worship peacefully in my country, and would like to know their culture and enjoy their society.  But, let them stand up and denounce all that is violent and ugly, and support MY religious freedom, and support MY country and wave a copy of MY constitution.  I don't see that happening anywhere.  Instead, we have shariya law being touted and supported.

ANYBODY who would have shariya law become the ruling thought anywhere in MY country can get the bloody hell out of MY country.

All this idealistic, overly-academic crap about the 'religion of peace' is wearing me down. 

People often refer to the teachings of the Savior, and that we must love and care for God's children everywhere.  However, tolerance does not mean 'accepting' evil.  The same Jesus who taught us to love and care for one another, chased the money changers out of the temple, turning over their tables, scattering their belongings, surprising the evil-doers, even getting their attention with a whip.

I accept that the truest form of Islam is good, and I believe God loves and blesses people of ALL religions who are trying to become better people.

My disgust is not directed at a religion, as I fully understand there are evil Jews, Christians, and Mormons.  My disgust and my INTOLERANCE is with a CULTURE that allows the beheading, and beating of women and children due to shariya law, and to those same people who have ZERO RESPECT for me and my country.  The same people who demand that we be tolerant of their barbaric laws are INTOLERANT of my religion and MY culture.  They are the same people who are NOT standing up for peace, and preaching against terrorism.  The same people who remain silent about terrorist groups.  The same muslim people, in MY country, who do nothing about the murderous thugs running amok in their own mosques and families.

These people can live how they want to live in Morocco or Pakistan, etc.  But when they come to MY country, they ought to be respectful and tolerant of MY country because they are GUESTS here.

I'm sick and tired of people preaching tolerance about muslims, when those muslims are giving me and MY country none of the tolerance they demand for themselves.

Saving the Constitution

Here's an eye opener:  a faithful member of my church said he would NOT get involved with a political movement unless the President of our church told him to.  Hmmmmm.  Let's review what the leadership of my church has been saying for more than a century . . .

1.  A statement of Joseph Smith, according to Orson Hyde:  "The time will come when the Constitution and the country would be in danger of an overthrow; and . . . if the Constitution be saved at all, it will be by the Elders of this Church."  Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 152, January 3, 1858

2.  Prophecy of Joseph Smith (March 10, 1844):  "Even this nation will be on the verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground and when the Constitution is on the brink of ruin, this people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean and they shall bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction."  Joseph Smith Papers, LDS Church Historical Archives, Box 1, D. Michael Stewart, Ensign, Vol. 6, No. 6, June 1976, pp. 64-65

3.  The Apostle Erastus Snow:  "We were told by the Prophet Joseph Smith, that the United States Government and people would undermine one principle of the Constitution after another, until its whole fabric would be torn away, and that it would become the duty of the Latter Day Saints and those in sympathy with them to rescue it from destruction, and to maintain and sustain the principles of human freedom for which our fathers fought and bled."  Journal of Discourses, Vol. 26, p. 226, May 31, 1885

4.  The Apostle Boyd K. Packer:  "Will the Constitution be destroyed? No. It will be held inviolate by this people; and as Joseph Smith said 'the time will come when the destiny of this nation will hang upon a single thread, and at thsi critical juncture, this people will step forth and save it from the threatened destruction'."

5.  The Apostle Ezra Taft Benson in General Conference of April 1965:  "The Prophet Joseph Smith declared it will be the Elders of Israel who will step forward to help save the Constitution, NOT THE CHURCH . . . Brethren, if we had done our homework and were faithful, we could step forward at this time and help save the country.  The fact that most of us are unprepared to do it is an indictment we will have to bear.  The longer we wait, the heavier the chains, the deeper the blood, the more the persecution, and the less we can carry out our God-given mandate and world wide mission. The war in heaven is raging on earth today.  Are you being neutralized in the battle?"

6.  The Apostle Harold B. Lee:  "[Latter-day Saints] devoutly believe that if [the constitution] should be in danger of being overthrown, their lives, if need be, are to be offered in defense of its principles."  Harold B. Lee, 'True Patriotism - An Expression of Faith', April 13, 1941

7.  The Prophet David O. McKay:  "Next to being one in worshiping God, there is nothing in this world which this Church should be more united than in upholding and defending the Constitution of the United States.  If members of the Melchizedek Priesthood allow the U.S. Constitution to be destroyed they not only forfeit their rights to the Priesthood, but to a place in this highest degree of glory as well."  David O. McKay, The Instructor, Feb. 1956, p. 34

This is a brief sampling.  Much more could be quoted.  Ezra Taft Benson spoke frequently and forcefully on this subject.  So . . . to my friend and fellow members of the church . . . are you still waiting for church leadership to tell you to step up?

Summer Soldiers and Sunshine Patriots

George Washington's army was starving, freezing and in need of a morale boost. On December 19, 1776 Thomas Paine provided the boost by publishing the pamphlet entitled, Common Sense.  In bygone days, these Thomas Paine words were familier to school children, but are strange words among the new generations of American children:

"These are the times that try men's souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered"


With that encouragement most of Washington's soldiers stood a little taller and concluded to put their lives on the line for the just cause, despite all the odds against them.

A week later Washington ordered his army forward. They had little food as they faced a snowy, frozen road, and a winter storm. They had to cross the delaware under the most difficult circumstances. Some soldiers had no shoes, some wrapped their feet in burlap sacks, and the army left bloody snow along the road. Raging winds combined with snow, sleet and rain to produce nearly impossible conditions. But they had new flints for their muskets and new courage in their hearts. There were no 'summer soldiers' nor 'sunshine patriots' among them.

It was Christmas Day, 1776, and less than one American in a thousand was willing to march with the army.

After an all night forced march, the Patriots launched a surprise attack on a well-trained Hessian army at Trenton, New Jersey. The battle began with fierce, determined fighting by a frozen, exhausted, starving army of Patriots who defeated the enemy and breathed new life into the Revolution.

What audacity!  What uncommon courage!  What sacrifice!

And all done for the freedom and liberty of 99.9% of the Americans who could not, or would not, march with the army.  All done for the freedom and liberty of generations of people yet unborn.  All done for the freedom and liberty of the Summer Soldier and the Sunshine Patriot.