Joined together
两者结合在一起
they form a sacred trust that holds the basis of our democratic society
构成了维持民主社会根基的神圣信赖
But let me tell you that trust is perpetually vulnerable
但我要告诉大家 这种信赖是很脆弱的
to the tyrannical tendencies of monarchs, mobs, and majorities
特别是在君主 暴民 多数的专横倾向下
And lately, we have seen those tendencies manifest themselves too often
最近 这种倾向经常出现在
both on college campuses and in our society
我们的大学校园和社会中
That's the bad news
这是个坏消息
and unfortunately, I think both Harvard
而且很不幸的是 哈佛
and my own city of New York, have been witnesses to this trend
以及我自己的城市纽约 也都见证过这种趋势
First, for New York City
首先 在纽约市
Several years ago, as you may remember
你们可能记得 几年前
some people tried to stop the
有些人强烈反对
development of a mosque a few blocks from the World Trade Center site
在世贸中心旧址几个街区远的地方建一座清真寺
It was an emotional issue
这是一个情感问题
and polls showed that
民意调查显示
two-thirds of Americans were against a mosque being built there
超过2/3的美国人都反对在那里建清真寺
Even the Anti-Defamation League
即便是反诽谤联盟
widely regarded as the country's most ardent defender of religious freedom
这一被公认为全国宗教自由最热情的捍卫者
declared its opposition to the project
也毫不掩饰对该项目的反对
The opponents held rallies and demonstrations
反对者进行着集会和示威
They denounced the developers
谴责开发者
and they demanded that city government stop its construction
要求市政府停止这项工程
That was their right and we protected their right to protest
这是他们的权利 我们保护他们的抗议权
But they could not have been more wrong
但他们的观点绝对是错误的
And we refused to cave in to those demands
我们拒绝屈从
The idea that government would single out a particular religion
政府如果单独选出某种宗教
and block its believers and only its believers
阻止而且只阻止其信徒
from building a house of worship in a particular area
在特定地点建立宗教活动场所
is diametrically opposed to the moral principles that gave rise to our great nation
这绝对是和伟大美国的道德原则背道而驰的
and the constitutional protections that have sustained it
这应是宪法保护所不允许的
Our union of 50 states rests on the union of two values
美国这个五十州联邦依赖于两大价值的结合
freedom and tolerance
自由和宽容
