It is sad that a country that claims to offer religious freedom would be so prejudicial in its application of that ideal. There is a serious disconnect in what many Americans see as a fair implementation of the First Amendment. Citizens of this country enjoy their freedoms and like to promote the benefit of those freedoms. But when it comes down to it, many of those same citizens don’t actually want to follow through on granting Constitutional rights to groups or individuals they find distasteful. This unfortunate phenomenon was made painfully clear this summer with the legally baseless and unfounded disparagement of the so called ‘Ground Zero Mosque’- which is actually two blocks away from Ground Zero in a restaurant district.
It has been said that it was in poor taste for an Islamic group to plan for the construction of a religious center near the site of terrorist attack orchestrated by Muslim radicals. That may be true, at least in the minds of some, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that they have the fundamental right to be there and to build whatever they wish there. Part of the difficultly of living in a functioning democratic state is that it can be hard sometimes to adhere to the principles that our Founding Father’s laid out for us. Justice Kennedy said it best in a concurring opinion in the brief for the Texas vs. Johnson flag burning case. “The hard fact is that sometime we must make decisions we do not like. We make them because they are right, right in the sense that the law and the Constitution, as we see them, compel the result.”
I have heard the argument that certain Muslim countries would not allow for Christian centers of worship to be built anywhere. This makes it even more important for us to show them that we do not hold ourselves to a similar standard, and we should not. Our victory is made in the point that we stand by what we preach, even in the faces of those that see it as a weakness.

HEROES OR VILLAINS? IT DEPENDS ON WHO YOU ASK, BUT HERE’S OUR SIDE OF THE STORY.

To be sure, the Patriot has been subject to a great many distinctions throughout its existence. Lehigh professors have said that we produce the best news and commentary at Lehigh. Just last year, a Lehigh administrator accused the Patriot of trying to “tear the [Lehigh] community apart.” Many of the articles published by the Patriot have received both ridicule and praise. Just in the past few years we’ve tried to tackle almost every controversial subject that relates to Lehigh and its students. We can, and will, be a source of controversy both this year and beyond. To be honest, we would not have it any other way.

The Patriot began as an operation run from the dorms (sorry, Residence Halls) of a few Lehigh students back in 2003. Initially, the project was titled “The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy,” in homage to and in mockery of idea that such a conspiracy actually existed. The goal of the VRWC was to serve as a forum for students who felt that the dialogue within Lehigh was limited too severely, specifically due to a left-leaning administration and faculty.

Over time, the group of students who felt a need for such a forum continued to grow, and so did the VRWC. In 2004, The VRWC gained national publicity through a piece on some artwork in Maginnes that displayed President Bush several cabinet members in highly unflattering positions. Fox News, and various other news organizations picked up the story, which provided the VRWC with support a great deal of exposure to alumni and outside organizations. In 2005, the VRWC was rebranded as The Lehigh Patriot, in an effort to become a more inclusive organization on campus.

(more…)