Well once again I have been neglecting my duties to all my fans by not posting regularly on my blog. Their have been a number of incidents that have happened over the past few months which I would have liked to comment on, but for the purpose of this post I will focus on the controversy surrounding the islamic center which is currently planned to be built around two blocks from where the World Trade Center stood. First off let me say that I am completely against the building of this Islamic center because of the location and also because of the very odd and questionable behavior of the Imam and his supporters who are funding this project.
The first thing I want to dismiss is this ridiculous notion that America is somehow islamophobic and that if you oppose this particular mosque it is because of religious intolerance. For anyone to claim such a thing they have to ignore a large amount of evidence to the contrary, the biggest one being that a consistent 70% of Americans oppose the building of this mosque. Are we to believe that 70% of Americans are religiously intolerant or could they, oh I dunno, have reasons other than religion to oppose this building? The next thing these guys have to ignore is that there are currently around 1209 mosques in America, 140 of them being in New York. Think that number is low? Well to put it in perspective that's more mosques than are in some Muslim majority countries such as Egypt. Lastly on this issue it is worth noting that the US is spending 6 million of our tax dollars to help build and renovate mosques in 27 different countries. If anyone still some sort of islamophobia in spite of this I hope they can at least back it up, but typically people who make such claims never plan on presenting any actual evidence of their claim. They simply yell it out, use some obscure reference they hope bolsters their claim and then hope their shouts drown out other more reasonable voices.
The real reason that people like me oppose this building has little to nothing to do with Islam, but the site of the building. I couldn't care less about someone going to their place of worship and praising God as they see fit. It is good that they have this right and I would want to do nothing to stand in their way. However, they want to build this Islamic center two blocks, or around 60o feet (two football fields) from a place where over 2500 people lost their lives in an act of terrorism committed by islamic terrorists. It doesn't get much more inappropriate than that and while they may have the right to practice their religion, I and others maintain our rights of free speech to call them the assholes they are for building such a thing so close to ground zero.
Still though, the media focuses on some supposed religious intolerance. Today in USA Today I find a front page article about a Muslim woman who lost her son in the 9/11 attacks. He was a EMT who when into the World Trade Center and unfortunately lost his life when it collapsed. The paper goes on to describe the reaction in America as a wave of islamophobia. I guess the paper feels that people should be more understanding when 3000 people are killed. The paper than tries to paint the picture that a supposed large amount of muslims were killed on that day stating that "hundreds of muslim families where affected" but later lists the number of muslims killed at 60 noting that it was much more than the "19 hijackers" but not noting that it amounts for all of 2% of the victims that day. I do feel sorry for this mother's loss. It shouldn't be trivialized but frankly this article was pathetic and just another example of a media reporting on a incident without even fully understanding why there is such strong opposition to the building of this center. It has nothing to due with religious intolerance or a hatred of islam, it's about location.
The last thing I want to point out with this issue is the lack of engagement by the Imam behind the building of this mosque. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has written three books concerning Islam in western society, ever notice you don't see many books concerning Christianity in the modern middle east? I digress. Imam Rauf is a well respected Islamic Scholar and appears to have earned a reputation has someone who seeks a peaceful outcome to many of our current conflicts with Islamic extremists. He has even gone so far as to refuse to denounce Hamas as a terrorist organization stating that doing so would preclude any ability on his part to act as a intermediary. He further claims that the point in building the islamic center is to rebuff extremism and to hopefully have the effect of bringing communities together, promote dialogue and improve Islamic relations in America. It's fair to say right now that this center has had the opposite effect. No one views this center as a rebuff of extremism. They view it as a mocking victory marker. It hasn't improved dialogue between faiths, it's made it worst. In fact, and this is something I find as galling as the building itself, the supporters of such a mosque have been absent from the discussion over this building. They have refused to meet with NY Gov. David Patterson when he sought to resolve the issue and they have refused what would be seen by most peacemakers as a great opportunity for dialogue. To appear on TV to discuss the positives of your faith. To lament the loss of life on that day and to create a visual image for those of you absolutely condemning the actions of those on 9/11. All this has been rather arrogantly dismissed and instead they simply call those who oppose the building bigots and leave it at that.
Why is it that a man can claim to want to be an intermediary between Hamas and Israel, and yet when it comes to easing the minds of Americans and allowing for discussion on this issue that so many find painful he turns a deaf ear? Why is it that a man can claim to want dialogue and yet clams up when given the opportunity?
In the end there are many reasons to oppose this mosque, none of which has to due with an intolerance of Islam. So I close hoping against hope that the American discussion on this issue begins to focus on the location itself and the appropriate pressure is applied until the plans for the building are eventually moved to a better location.
-Zach
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