Our Constitution grants each individual the right to believe whatever theology he or she wants. It does not grant anyone the right to impose that theology on others or to use that theology to interfere with perfectly legal activities.

Imagine the Amish blocking too-fast automobiles from public roads. Imagine Seventh-Day Adventists blocking buildings so you couldn’t work on Saturday, their holy Sabbath. The Thirty Meter Telescope protesters want to stop a perfectly legal project because they believe the mountain is sacred. To them, yes. To everyone else, no.

The question is whether some group’s theological beliefs should be allowed to impinge on other people’s perfectly legal activities. The building of the TMT will not stop people from believing in the ancient Hawaiian religions, from believing that the mountain is sacred, nor will it stop them from performing religious ceremonies on the mountain. The protests should stop. TMT should be built.

Roger Garrett

Kapahulu

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