Tearing down America and its freedoms

The very fabric of our nation has come under attack in the last few weeks.
The fundamental constitutional freedoms that have made America exceptional are being questioned and challenged.
The first amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and religion. It is one of our bedrock principles.
There are no limits to those freedoms as written.
No place that says you can exercise your freedom of speech as long as you do not offend anyone.
No place that says you are only allowed to practice your deeply held religious beliefs in private.
Yet, we are increasingly confronted with challenges to those freedoms.
In Texas a woman holds a conference on freedom of speech and sponsors a cartoon contest depicting the prophet Mohammed.
Two terrorists show up to try and kill the attendees. The good news is the terrorists were killed.
The bad news is the media and a lot of politicians are attacking the woman who set up the conference for sponsoring an event she knew would incite a violent response.
How are we free to speak out in opposition when those we are criticizing are savage barbarians?
In Baltimore a young black man dies while in police custody.
But before any investigation is even begun thugs take to the streets, looting and destroying private property and chanting - "no justice, no peace!"
Whatever happened to the basic American sense of justice that says you are innocent until proven guilty?
In Oregon a young couple has lost their business because they refused to bake a cake for a lesbian couple's wedding.
They were fined $135,000. Clearly, the issue of freedom of religion guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution is under attack.
At least one reporter has asked a Muslim bakery to prepare a cake for a gay wedding, but no one has taken that bakery to court for refusing to bake the cake.
It would appear that fear of a violent response from the radical Muslims has cowed the activists on that injustice.
In Georgia, police detained a female military veteran for interrupting a flag protest.
Her crime: she picked up the flag the protestors were walking on because she said it was offensive to the veterans that had given their lives for that flag.
Why is her right to peacefully protest, in the public square, less important than the rights of the flag tramplers?
Freedom of speech guarantees that some speech will be disgusting, offensive even downright dangerous.
But throughout our short history those who have made us face the uncomfortable edges of our human behavior have helped us achieve much progress.
Should Martin Luther King have been silenced because he offended racists?
Should President Lincoln have avoided emancipation because it could result in a civil war?
In an interview on CNN Pam Geller, promoter of the free speech conference said, "there is a problem in Islam."
She went on to point out that no one was saying all Muslims are violent extremists but that anyone who criticizes them is threatened.
Geller went on to point out to the CNN reporter that failing to draw the line between civilized men and savages is ridiculous.
Allowing these people to hide behind their blasphemy laws to kill and murder those that disagree with them is monstrous.
Geller is right. She should be celebrated as a hero for having the courage to stand up and confront the barbarians who find it acceptable, even honorable, to behead people just because they are Christians.
Instead she is attacked because she intentionally provoked the savages.
Living in a truly free society virtually guarantees that you will find your deeply held personal prejudices shredded by some clear thinking intelligent advocate of a different point of view.
Failing to allow others to challenge your narrow view of the world is a recipe for building a less tolerant society.
Despite our claims of becoming a more progressive and enlightened society we are regressing to a less tolerant and more divided one.
Before you condemn all conservatives, liberals, Christians, men, women, homosexuals, corporations, rich, poor, black, white, yellow or red skinned people, you might want to listen to their point of view.
It is a lot more difficult to challenge their individual prejudice than it is to just reject it.
Once one side concludes that their inability to convince you gives them the right to end your existence, there is no room for tolerance.