Last Thursday evening I spent the night at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Ally Alliance annual ice cream social — an event where the club tries to bring new blood into the organization.

As I ate my neopolitan ice cream cone, I noticed familiar music from my once-upon-a-time past. A much larger group than those at the Alliance gathering were listening to Christian music being played south of the Campanile. Five years ago, I would have been listening with them, but as time goes on people can change.

So it came to be that I would spend my time eating ice cream and renewing old acquaintances with people I’d lost track of over the summer instead of praying a few hundred feet away.

Reflecting on the proximity of these two groups, I pondered the genius of our founding fathers. Their genius being that the freedom of peaceful assembly allows these two events to take place without conflict or violence.

I found it amazing because, in so many places around the world, the mere closeness of two starkly ideologically different groups would result in rioting and death.

In America, that is the exception rather than the rule. For instance, the Republican National Convention took place in a primarily Democratic city. Approximately 160,000 protesters arrived to express their “disagreement” with the president on issues ranging from the war in Iraq to the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Despite the fact these two groups were much larger than the ones meeting on Iowa State’s campus last week, the protests and the convention went with very little incident, primarily due to the exemplary preparedness of the New York City police department.

Once again, Americans proved that although we often disagree, we don’t resort to violence as a means of political change. Perhaps this is at the core of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The fact a group of LGBT Americans could gather for ice cream without political or religious oppression means that our country is in a “moral decline” according to Osama bin Laden and his fundamentalist cronies.

This is why the war on terror must be won. The promise of America is that all people are welcome and none should be left out of the freedom and prosperity of our country.

Unfortunately, America is so bitterly divided on cultural issues of religion in the public forum, abortion, gay rights, sex education and stem cell research that the fulfillment of that promise seems very far away.

Is it at all possible to reconcile these differences? Or is politics in the 21st century destined to be a zero-sum game, where if one side wins the other invariably loses?

The answers are not at all easy, but, as Americans, we should be willing to discuss these issues and try to find the compromise solutions. One possibility would be that regulations on abortion are OK so long as abstinence-only sex education programs are eliminated. An abstinence-only program does not give teens the knowledge they need to prevent unwanted pregnancies — the cause of abortions — should they engage in sexual activity anyway.

It’s safe to say that during peacetime — and wartime, as the current election demonstrates with an even split of support for Kerry and Bush — America won’t see the unity we experienced after Sept. 11 until the secularists stop claiming Christians are trying to establish a theocracy in America.

On the flip side, Christians need to stop claiming that same-sex couples who want the same rights and privileges that come with marriage are attacking the bedrock institution of civilization as we know it.

Though we often disagree, when it comes to defending America from those foreigners who wish us harm, united we stand.