People
For the American Way today asked GOP presidential hopefuls Newt
Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, and Haley Barbour to publicly tell the
American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer that the First Amendment
applies to all Americans, when they appear on his radio show later
today. Fischer, who has a long history of outspoken bigotry and
intolerance, wrote a column earlier this week asserting that the First
Amendment was meant to protect only Christians.
“The First
Amendment
was written by the Founders to protect the free exercise of
Christianity,” Fischer wrote, “They were making no effort to give
special protections to Islam… Islam is entitled only to the religious
liberty we extend to it out of courtesy.”
“Gingrich,
Huckabee, and Barbour all say they value the Constitution. This will be
a great opportunity to show their true commitment” said Michael
Keegan, President of People For the American Way.
“Bryan Fischer’s attempt to redefine a basic right at the core of our
democracy is something that no public official – especially one who
prides himself in protecting the Constitution – should let slide. These
candidates must make it clear that if elected president they will work
to uphold the rights and freedoms of all Americans. And, if they hope
to one day represent all Americans, they must be careful to distance
themselves from people like Fischer, who want the rights and
opportunities of our country to be extended only to a few.”
“It’s baffling that these presidential hopefuls think that it’s
appropriate to lend any credibility to someone with as astounding a
record of intolerance and bigotry as Fischer,” Keegan continued,
“But
if they still go on Fischer’s program, while on the show they
should at least clearly separate themselves from his demonstrated
contempt for the Constitution and for many of his fellow Americans.”
Fischer’s redefinition of the First Amendment is the latest in a long
string of unapologetic bigotry. In January, he insulted a recipient of
the Medal
of Honor,
saying the medal had been “feminized” because “we now award it only for
preventing casualties, not for inflicting them." Last month, he called Native
Americans
"morally disqualified from sovereign control of American soil” and
asserted that they “remain mired in poverty and alcoholism” because
they “cling to the darkness of indigenous superstition instead of
coming into the light of Christianity and assimilating into Christian
culture.”
Fischer has also stated that “"homosexuals should be disqualified
from public office,” that “gay sex is a form of domestic
terrorism," and that Hitler “surrounded
himself”
with “male homosexuals” because “he could not get straight soldiers to
be savage and brutal and vicious enough to carry out his orders.”
But he reserves his most ferocious bigotry for Muslims, demanding that no
new mosques be built in the United States and that Muslims be banned
from the U.S. armed forces, and has even called for the deportation
of Muslim Americans.
People For the American Way’s full letters to the presidential hopefuls
can be found here:
Barbour: http://www.pfaw.org/media-center/publications/letter-to-haley-barbour-from-pfaw
Gingrich: http://www.pfaw.org/issues/fighting-the-right/letter-to-newt-gingrich-from-pfaw
Huckabee: http://www.pfaw.org/issues/fighting-the-right/letter-to-mike-huckabee-from-pfaw
March 25, 2011
Governor Haley Barbour
Haley’s Leadership PAC
P.O. Box 1186
Jackson, MS 39215
Dear Governor Barbour,
Yesterday, Bryan Fischer, the
Director of Issue Analysis for the American Family Association,
announced that you would be appearing today on his radio show.
Mr. Fischer has a long history of outrageous, dishonest, and often
hateful statements--as a result of which, the Southern Poverty Law
Center has officially designated the AFA a “Hate Group.” This
designation is well earned given the tenor and frequency of Fischer's
harsh attacks on the LGBT, Muslim and Hispanic communities among
others.
This week, though, Mr. Fischer made a statement that goes to the core
of this nation's values. In a post on the American Family Association’s
website he claimed that the First Amendment only applies to Christians:
“The First Amendment was written by the Founders to protect the free exercise of Christianity. They were making no effort to give special protections to Islam… Islam is entitled only to the religious liberty we extend to it out of courtesy.”
This assertion would come as a shock not only to every American who
learned that religious liberty and equality under the law are among our
nation’s core principles, but to the founders themselves, who clearly
intended for the protections of the First Amendment to extend to all
creeds.
Mr. Fischer isn't simply wrong about this point--he is
spreading a dishonest and dangerous lie about how America should treat
not only Muslims, but people of all faiths or no faith at all.
If you choose to appear with Mr. Fischer today, you have a
responsibility to disavow this lie while on the show.
We disagree on many issues, but this should not be one of them. Progressives and conservatives alike should make clear that the First Amendment protects the religious liberty of all Americans.
Sincerely,
Michael Keegan
President
People For the American Way