Harnish: We have a problem. It is the….

The questioner confronted the candidate: “We have a problem in America. It’s the Muslims.”

And instead of challenging the questioner, the candidate’s convoluted answer was basically “We’re gonna look into that.”

The conversation took me back to the early American beginnings, when someone said, “We have a problem in this colony. It’s Roger Williams and his talk about religious liberty and separation of church and state. Kick him out, and send him packing to Rhode Island.”

Then I hear echoes of voices in New York City shouting, “We have a problem here. It’s the Irish Catholics.” Hence, the gang wars.

From around Michigan, as well as the South, I hear someone crying out, “We have a problem here. It’s the blacks, the Jews and the Catholics, Call in the KKK.” Or from Illinois, “We have a problem. It’s the Mormons. Chase them all the way to Utah.”

I would agree we have a problem in America, but I would suggest the problem is not the Muslims — it is religious bigotry and prejudice which seems to run so deeply in our society and our world. Suffice to say, this kind of religious bigotry is nothing new in America and it is not as violent as aggressive religious oppression in some other parts of the world, but for a nation committed to the free expression of religion, it is deeply troubling.

What troubles me most is that the questioner seems to represent a fair number of Americans who seem to believe freedom of religion only works one way, tilted in favor of their own personal religious preference.

It’s what the editors of Christian Century magazine called “selective dedication to the religious freedom clause.” If the lawyers who supported Kim Davis also were defending Muslims who would like to build a mosque or Native Americans seeking to protect ancestral burial grounds, I would be more inclined to believe they really cared about defending religious freedom rather than just their own religious convictions.

I am a United Methodist Christian and as such I want the freedom to baptize babies, sing rousing gospel hymns and ordain women as clergy.

At the same time I will defend the Baptists’ right to adult baptism and the Roman Catholics’ preference for a male priesthood because their freedom is my freedom. I may have major differences with Muslims or Mormons, but I will defend their right to worship as they see fit, because I am an American and I believe in the diversity that comes with the freedom of worship for all.

Here in Benzie County, we experience fairly little of the breadth of world religions but the commitment to the basic American principle enshrined in the First Amendment is just as important here as it is for the Muslim Americans in Dearborn or any place else.

It celebrates the dignity and worth of all persons regardless of religion and affirms their place in the fabric of American society. Without it, we really do have a problem.

Rev. Dr. John E. Harnish lives and worships in Benzie County. He is the interim pastor at Traverse Bay United Methodist Church in Traverse City.