Bearing Drift repudiates Donald Trump’s statement on Muslims

Since 2004, Bearing Drift has served as one of the leading voices of Republicans in Virginia.  In that time, we have consistently supported conservative ideals, and have become Virginia’s loudest and most read conservative website.  We have fought for the principles that have made America great, upon which she was founded and which all Republicans fight.  We have done our best to uphold the Republican Party of Virginia’s Republican Creed as we understand it.

It is the opinion of the Editorial Board and many contributors of Bearing Drift that the statements made by Donald J. Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, regarding halting the entry of those of the Islamic faith from entering the United States, are reckless, inappropriate, and contrary to the founding principles embodied in Virginia’s Statute for Religious Freedom.

We roundly condemn his comments and urge all those who consider themselves part of the Republican Party or the center-right coalition to join us in that condemnation.  We applaud and stand by Speaker Ryan, Representatives Hurt, Comstock, and Rigell, RNC Chairman Reince Preibus, RPV Chairman John Whitbeck, and State Delegate David Ramadan, and 4th District GOP Committee Chair Jack Wilson, all of whom have, by name, condemned Mr. Trump’s statement, and we appreciate the willingness of Congressman Brat, Ed Gillespie and others to defend religious freedom in general.  We urge all elected officials in Virginia as well as all local and state party officials to join in our repudiation of Mr. Trump’s remarks.

This is not a step we take lightly.  In our eleven years of publication, we have never written such a statement and we earnestly desire never to do so in the future.  Given, however, the strength Mr. Trump has demonstrated throughout the early stages of this presidential nomination contest, we cannot ignore statements he makes, because we recognize that the entire world is watching this nomination battle.  It is incumbent upon all conservatives, particularly all Republicans, to stand up and demand that those who would seek to represent us and carry the same banner Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan carried do so without besmirching their memories and our shared traditions of religious freedom and civil rights.

There can be no mistake that America is at war with a viciously violent form of radical Islam preached by a variety of discrete sects, each having perverted the teachings of that religion, a religion which has more than a billion peaceful adherents around the globe, including millions of loyal Americans here in the United States.  America must remain committed to defeating the forces of radical Islam, no matter who they are or from where they wish to threaten us.  But we must always keep in mind who our actual enemy is – it is not Islam, or the billion Muslims around the world who wish to simply live and practice their faith in peace.  It is with those misguided men and women who would use violence to spread their hateful ideology.  Mr. Trump’s statement ignores the difference, lumping all Muslims into the category of “potential terrorist.”  This is wrong and it reinforces the worldview that these radical Islamic sects seek to propagate – that America is at war with all of Islam, and not simply with those who preach an abhorrent, violent and hateful interpretation of Islam and seek to do America harm.

Mr. Trump’s statement is a direct attack on America’s history of religious tolerance, and it represents a violation of the Federal Constitution, and in Virginia, of our Statute for Religious Freedom, the oldest such enacted law in the world.  Since 1786, Virginia has protected the rights of every person within our boundaries, whether citizen or not, to worship as they please.  Denying Muslims entry into the United States represents a violation of the requirement that America provide equal protection under the law for every person on American soil, citizen, immigrant and visitor alike, and that we do not prevent the free exercise of whatever faith they profess.  Since our founding, America has welcomed those who have been persecuted, tortured, and oppressed because they found God in a different way than their fellow man.  Whether it was the Puritans, the Quakers, the Mormons, Jews, Catholics or the myriad of other faiths sprinkled across our land, America has been a beacon of hope to those who wish to pray and live their lives according to their own conscience.

The Editorial Board of Bearing Drift and the undersigned contributors remain committed to Thomas Jefferson’s proper codification of natural law, that “no man shall be . . . enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of Religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect their civil capacities.”

Anything less would represent a violation of the principles upon which we as Americans, Virginians, Republicans and conservatives have long professed and labored to defend.

We call upon Mr. Trump to repudiate his statement, and we urge like-minded men and women to join us in this call.

 

J.R. Hoeft, Editor-in-Chief

Shaun Kenney, Editor

Norm Leahy, Editor

Scott Lee, Editor

Brian W. Schoeneman, Editor

 

Ken Falkenstein, Contributor

Matt Colt Hall, Contributor

Jason Kenney, Contributor

John E. McGlothlin, Contributor

D.J. McGuire, Contributor

Rollin Reisinger, Contributor

Andrew Schwartz, Contributor

Rick Sincere, Contributor

Daniel J. Spiker, Contributor

Tyler Spires, Contributor

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