By Any Means Necessary?

Civic debate seems to be turning ugly in America. After the pro-marriage Proposition 8 was passed in California, angry gay-rights activists vented their fury on Mormons and Christians, who publicly opposed marriage by homosexuals. Pro-life activists have long experienced social marginalization at the hands of pro-choice organizations and their sympathizers in the mainstream media, according to the final article by the late Richard John Neuhaus. And now Jews in the Chicago area are facing the wrath of vandals responding to Israel's Gaza invasion. "This touches a raw nerve," Rabbi Zvi Engel of Congregation Or Torah in Skokie said, responding to "Death to Israel!" slogans and other provocations on area synagogues. "You have to remember, in our congregations, there are people who remember this happening in Europe" at the start of the Holocaust. Even in America, where freedom of speech is enshrined as a core value, many seek to win debates in the public square by any means necessary.