Wednesday, January 22, 2025
8.0°F

MY TURN: Press should filter more

Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 14 years, 4 months AGO
| September 1, 2010 10:00 PM

I absolutely cannot believe you printed Fred Hamelrath's My Turn column regarding the "Muslim Agenda" with all the factual inaccuracies it contained without a disclaimer, or even that you actually printed it.

1. It is not a Mosque; it will be a community center, complete with swimming pool and other athletic facilities, as well as meeting rooms that will be available to people of all faiths, not just Muslims. It will have a prayer room. Essentially, it will be comparable to a YMCA.

2. It is not proposed for the immediate site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as stated, it is two blocks away, cannot be seen from ground zero, and has been used for prayer services for more than a year. The site is not hallowed ground, but the site of a closed Burlington Coat Factory.

3. President Obama did not approve of the building of the community center. He merely stated that they had the right to build it per the First Amendment of our Constitution. He has not weighed in on whether he believes they should build it. There is a difference.

4. President Obama is not a Muslim, he is a Christian. Yes, he was born to a Muslim father and a Christian mother and attended a Muslim school while growing up, but has been a practicing Christian for decades, and was married in a Christian ceremony, raises his children as Christians, etc.

So, Mr. Hamelrath it appears that you want the nine people on the Supreme Court to decide which religions are permissible in this country and which are not. I am definitely not in favor of having so few people make such a momentous decision that affects our entire nation. I truly believe that even though the prevalent religion at the time the Constitution was written was Christianity, it was meant to include all religions, not just what was common at the time. Just as slavery was OK at that time, but no longer is, thank God.

Please sir, expand your sources of news gathering to gain some real perspective and actual facts. And please, Coeur d'Alene Press exercise some judgment on the letters and guest columns you publish.

TERRI WHITE

Post Falls

MORE IMPORTED STORIES

MY TURN: Slap in face of patriotism
Coeur d'Alene Press | Updated 14 years, 4 months ago
Muslim agenda requires a response
Coeur d'Alene Press | Updated 14 years, 4 months ago
SPEECH: Keep it free for everyone
Coeur d'Alene Press | Updated 14 years, 4 months ago