Of the 2995 people who died on 9/11, 59 were Muslims. Yet Reuters reported yesterday that New York Governor David Paterson will pressure the developer of the proposed Islamic community center in lower Manhattan to relocate. This is nuts.
As an Evangelical Christian, three pillars of my faith guide my response to this trumped-up controversy: forgiveness rooted in the Cross, the value for Truth, and the call to love our neighbor.
Evangelicals believe in the power of the Cross, the place where Jesus died at the hands of his enemies; the place where Jesus uttered, "Forgive them Father for they know not what they do"; the place that makes radical forgiveness possible. Yet the Muslim world did not perpetrate the terrorist acts of 9/11, so there is actually no need to forgive Muslims for 9/11. The fault sits squarely with Al Qaeda, a small terrorist organization. And therein lies is the irony. We have failed to do the lesser thing. Jesus calls us to follow him into forgiveness of our enemy. But forgiveness isn't politically profitable. So we have been led by Evangelical hacks like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck to feed on misdirected bitterness rather than follow Jesus' lead.
Fear and hysteria are no excuse for muddled language and twisted truths. Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life." Thus, to suppress truth is to suppress Jesus himself. Why would Jesus care about truth? Because lies destroy people made in the image of God, thus destroying the image of God on Earth. We would do well to remember that the next time Newt Gingrich rants that building a mosque in the shadow of the World Trade Center is like the Nazis putting a swastika next to the Holocaust Museum. Come on.
So what is the truth?
Dr. Sarah Sayeed, president of Women in Islam, Inc. and program director for the Interfaith Center of New York, explained in a recent interview:
There has been a mosque on Warren Street, four blocks from the World Trade Center site, for many many years. My dad used to go there for prayers when I was a little kid. A lot of the Muslim people who work at City Hall or in the financial district would go to that mosque.
The Warren Street Mosque lost its lease and had to find a new location. Some people in that community came together and were able to purchase the building on Park Place and West Broadway, where the Islamic Community Center is now proposed; two blocks closer to Ground Zero. The people in the purchasing community partnered with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who had another mosque in Tribeca -- also close to Ground Zero. Imam Feisal serves on the board of the Interfaith Center of New York.
Their vision included a full-blown community center that serves the wider community, not just the Muslim community. It's conceived in the tradition of the YMCA, with a pool, a place for seniors to congregate, a place for the arts and a multi-faith chapel and prayer space. So, it's really a cultural center that is being built by a group of Muslims. They're also talking about having an interfaith advisory group to help shape the work in the building.
In light of this truth, to ask this long-established community to relocate is a first step down the long road to ethnic cleansing. It is the antithesis of Jesus' call to love our neighbor.
Governor Patterson and other politicians are trading truth for political points. And worse, without realizing it, they are following the lead of right-wing liar, Pamela Geller, founder of Stop the Islamization of America, a crude website dedicated to stopping the spread of Islam in the U.S. and worldwide. Loonwatch.com lists Geller as "the looniest blogger ever." The mosque controversy traces directly back to Geller. And it is true to form. During the 2008 elections, Geller claimed that Obama was a Muslim and that purple is the official "gangsta" color of the Obama administration -- no connection, just goof-ball.
My faith's values for forgiveness, truth, and love of neighbor lead me to conclude that politicians using the Islamic community center as an opportunity to score political points are mounting a direct assault against the honor of the dead -- not just the 59 Muslim Americans who died but also all those whose lives were stolen by the hands of terrorists on September 11, 2001. They are betraying the heart of our country. Worse, they are betraying the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees the free exercise of religion. And this is the one freedom Islamic extremists despise most.
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Joseph Ward III: Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf Speaks Out (AUDIO, TRANSCRIPT)
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Proverbs also tells us we must not be black-and-white, all-or-none thinkers but must be able to "grasp both ends of the stick at the same time"
Jesus also said these things about how God's Truth divides those who see it from those who do not and divides us from falsehood, depending on how we exercise God's greatest gift to mankind, our free will (but you spiritual cherry-pickers probably won't like these so much):
"Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division." (Luke 12:51)
"I did not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34)
the truth is "sharper than any double-edged sword"; it "penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).
Free Exercise of Religion is no protection or excuse for violating individual rights.
Find us a Reform Muslim please. They are sorely lacking in numbers.
Please, don't preach. Convert. That is your Christian Duty.
Exactly. The inability of the w*ng n*ts to tell the difference between a terro.rist and a religion is staggering in it's stoopidity, and harmful to our international respect. Stereotyping Muslims is no way to accomplish anything good.
The Founding Fathers' intentions, the meaning of the first amendment, the constitutionality of this issue seems glaringly clear. This is a free country, for which thousands of our troops have died...died for the freedoms of white Christians, Muslims, Atheists, and everyone else. We fought in Iraq for nine years to "free" Muslims. Hindering the religious expression of ANYONE in this county affects ALL of us.
Let us build the mosque at ground zero. It will show the world that the United States of America does not discriminate against one of God's great religions, and then let's build a generic house of worship where persons of any religion can reflect upon the relationship between God and man.
In short, let us not be the ones to perpetuate this war.
Demonstrating peace in a time of conflict is a brave and noble thing to do, even if it may not be the strategically correct thing to do. Yes, one interpretation of an act of peace is weakness, and that has always been so, but if we disallow the building of the mosque at ground zero it might be seen as an insult and it might become an argument for those who say the US is at war with Islam. Either way, those who hate us will not be appeased.
There are plenty of good Muslims in the world. The issue is that we are at war with the bad ones. It is a simple equation. Is the effect of the community center on good people outweigh the effect of it on bad ones? I still think that the perception by some extremist in a cave somewhere will be that of a win for terrorism. This should be a concern for all of us. While there most certainly cannot be barriers place in front of religious faith it is certainly a topic worthy of discussion and discretion. If a Christian terrorist imploded himself and killed a bunch of pilgrims in Mecca we would all understand the desire of Muslims to question whether churches should be built there.
I'm completely baffled by this knee jerk generalization. Ultimately, this argument is, even though we know not all muslims are the same, we'll treat them all as if they are terrorists anyway....because our feelings are hurt.
Total failure from every angle. It begs for extremism (persecution does that), it suggests absurdly, that muslims have no patriotism, maybe don't DESERVE any?
Shame.
1) All Muslims are terrorists
2) All Muslims are innocent, except for the terrorists
Not all Muslim enemies of America are terrorists in a cave. Some work out of high rise offices in Manhattan, and are American citizens.
The ideology of our enemy is Islamism. Violent Islamists are terrorists. Non-violent Islamists are just as dangerous or more so--they have the same goals as the violent ones, just different tactics. They want to change our institutions from within. Fair enough, if they play by our political rules honestly.
When they use charges of racism and Islamophobia to counter critics rather than rational arguments, when they hide their agenda (what is the Shariah Index Project trying to do, exactly?) they raise suspicion and resistance.
I have some doubts about where the proponents of Park51 stand on the Islamism scale.
A Muslim against Park51
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/from-an-actual-moderate-muslim-a-memo-to-the-msm-on-imam-rauf/
Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser:
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/a-patriotic-muslims-warning-on-ground-zero-mosque/
Stephen Schwartz:
Denunciation of crimes committed by Muslims, such as the 9/11 attacks, or the extremist affiliations of Muslims like Feisal Abdul Rauf, is not Islamophobia. Rather, such repudiation is urgently necessary for the health of American Islam as a faith community and should certainly come before any schemes for ambitious, overbearing mosques or Islamic cultural centers.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/john_esposito_islamophobia_and.html
Umdat al-salik, p42.1: Allah Most High says:
"Men are the guardians of women, since Allah has been more generous to one than the other, and because of what they [men] spend from their wealth. So righteous women will be obedient, and in absence watchful, for Allah is watchful. And if you fear their intractability warn them, send them from bed, or hit them. But if they obey you, seek no way to blame them. (Koran 4:34)"
This was certified in 1991.
Umdat al-salik, "Who is Subject to Retaliation for Injurious Crimes"
"o1.2 The following are not subject to retaliation:
[...]
(4) a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring's offspring"...
And you wonder why Muslim parents believe they have the right to kill daughters who become Westernized?
If it must be a religious shrine why not make a Buddha statue as a symbol of peace , after all the one was destroyed in Afganisthan..
"While Glenn's social views are compatible with many Christian views, his beliefs in Mormonism are not. Clearly, Mormonism is a cult," the press release said.
Schneeberger said the criticism from Underground Apologetics had "nothing to do with our decision to pull the article from publication" but admitted that "some from our base" were concerned that the interview aimed to "signal theological compromise."
Beck said in a statement, "Whatever your beliefs about my religion, the concept of religious tolerance is too important to be sacrificed in response to special interest groups, especially when it means bowing to censorship."
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This author is a Progressive. Progressives are as dense and RightRightRight as the Religious Right. Both sets of folks are enamored of their own righteousness. It is not bigoted to object to this mosque because of the symbolism of its placement. It is patriotic.
Hell, did you know that there is a strip bar called the Pussycat Lounge just one block south of Ground Zero. Is anyone protesting that? Of course not, nor should they. It is as American as apple pie.
Progressives are useless because they cast every political conflict as Correct/Incorrect. Can you entertain the idea that someone might be opposed to the building of the mosque because they are patriotic and the symbolism is offensive?
I spent two years as a diarist and participant in one of the foremost Progressive Blogs on the Net. I know quite well what Progressive strengths and weaknesses are. And one of their weaknesses is intolerance. And self righteous intolerance at that.
There are all kinds in every group and same goes with religion.
But from progressive democrat , that is yours truely, you areSso wrong my dear....
But most bigots are on the right....
I am appalled that the only two choices we are offered is: we are Good and Constitutional if we agree to the mosque; we are bigoted and unAmerican if we disagree. The world is more various than that. One is not a bigot as a matter of definition if one opposes this mosque because of the symbolism of its location. One may simply be patriotic.
The Big Con is on. Pay no attention Americans. You are being played.