Terry Jones and Dearborn Protests

It is easy to criticize those who generally disagree with us. It may be harder to praise those same people where we find common ground. Yet that perhaps is the best reason why we ought to compliment when the compliment is earned.

The ACLU actually stood in defense of the ministers Terry Jones and Wayne Sapp as they had intended to stage a protest outside of a Mosque in Dearborn yesterday. The actions of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy were derided as breaches of the free speech rights of the men.

The County successfully convinced a court to jail Mr. Jones and Mr. Sapp rather than let them protest, citing breach of the peace concerns. While such an issue is not invalid, the ACLU came down on the side of what even they think of as reprehensible speech.

For this, they and other Constitutional scholars, and several voices of Islam itself, who made positive comments on the proceedings must be thanked. They maintained a certain decent consistency on an important question of personal freedom. For though the approach of Jones and Sapp are dangerous and wrong, they have the same rights as anyone else.

In the end, truth be told, the entire situation was rather stupid. The ministers needed to employ more charity in their actions, and the Prosecutor's Office and the Court needed to display better judicial foresight in theirs. Still, circumstances may make for odd bedfellows. But when we are on the same page, decency calls for us to acknowledge as much.