Discussion on Religious Allegiance and the Constitution

It's a simple question

No, your friend's got the mic. Would you answer your-

What's your name?

I'm asking you a simple question. You give me your name,

I'll answer the question.

Okay, Tommy.

Hi, Tommy. How are you?

I'm great.

Are you? Do you know what the Constitution of the

United States is?

I have one simple question.

No.

Will you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood?

Sure. Yeah, absolutely. But I want- I want to ask you the question that you're

asking. Why are you asking the question?

Well, because they're a terrorist group.

Oh, god.

Okay. No, no, but what are you implying? The, the-- do you assume that I wouldn't?

Yes.

Why not?

Because I have not heard you disavow them yet.

Have you disavowed them? I haven't heard you disavow them yet.

I disavow them.

Do you? Great. But here's the thing about it.

You're asking the question because implicitly you assume that I'll

have dual loyalties,

right?

You assume that somehow I wouldn't disavow,

or that I'll have some higher order allegiance than to the Constitution.

Correct? Tommy, is that what you imply?

Yes.

Why would you think that about me?

Because I have not heard you disavow them.

No, no, no, no. Why would you actually think

that about me?

Because I have not heard you disavow them.

But I just did. But why would you actually think that?

Why would you-- why-- have you asked everybody in your life

if they disavow them?

I have not.

So why are you asking me?

Because I have not heard you disavow them yet.

No, no, no. Answer the question, Tommy. Everybody knows the answer to it.

Answer the question.

All right. So let me just tell you. Let me just tell you.

I'm gonna swear an oath to the Constitution of the United States.

And that constitution guarantees us all the right to practice whatever

faith we want or no, no faith at all.

Oh, wow.

And now, you assumed, you assumed, Tommy,

that because I am Muslim, that somehow I would

have some allegiance to something that is not our Constitution.

That's your assumption. That's implicit in the question.

Thank you.

And what's interesting to me is that this is not the first time people

have asked

those kinds of questions, because do you know who John F.

Kennedy is?

Yeah.

Do you know who that is, Tommy?

I do.

All right. Uh, do you know what he was asked as the first possible

Catholic president of the United States? What did they ask him?

You don't remember? You should read history.

Tommy, when he ran for president, he was asked whether or not

he was going to have allegiance to the Pope

at the Vatican, because of course, he's Catholic.

And his answer, famously, was that he was not running to be a Catholic

president, he was running to be president

and happened to be Catholic.

Yeah.

I'm

not running to be a religious president.

I'm running to be a United States, I happen to be Muslim.

And so, you know, it's important, I think, because

you would ask this question

in a way that suggests that somehow our

Constitution

shouldn't be the thing that all of us

bear allegiance to. And I'm just telling you that for me, that

Constitution is the guiding light.

It guarantees me the right to pray as I choose to pray or not pray at all.

It guarantees you the right to pray as you choose to pray or not pray at all.

Now, Tommy, I'm gonna ask you about your faith.

Are you a man of faith?

I am.

And what faith do you practice?

I am Christian.

You're a Christian.

Oh.

Do you-- No, no, I mean, it's a, it's a good question. Look up.

Do you live by Christian doctrine?

I would say so, yes.

No.

Good. And you try as hard as you can to live by

Christian doctrine, right?

Yes.

Do you think I have to live by Christian doctrine?

Do you?

It's up to you.

It's up to me, right?

Right.

Why? Why is it up to me?

Because we have free will.

Right. Free will, and also in this country,

what else do we have?

Separation.

Freedom of religion.

What else do we have, Tommy?

Freedom of religion.

No, I mean, you're asking me about my allegiance to

the Constitution.

It's the Constitution, my guy. We have a Constitution, and

that Constitution

guarantees you the right to live by your faith and guarantees me the right to

do the same.

That's right.

And the reality of it is this:

I'm never gonna tell you what faith you can or can't practice.

I want to protect your right to practice your faith as you choose as a Christian

man.

The implication,

though, is that

it seems like you don't want to protect my right to practice as I choose to

practice.

So I'm gonna ask you, do you disavow any attempt to

read any religious doctrine into the laws of our

country?

I do not.

You don't disavow that?

So I think it's you who needs to understand the Constitution, not me.

Yeah.