Every once in a while we witness the perfect interfaith storm. It's always a combination of religion, politics, and one special ingredient, like money, scandal, or, as in this season's storm, collective memory.
This season's perfect interfaith storm is the proposed mosque and Islamic community center two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City. In a building that has lain fallow since 9/11, when one of the planes' landing gear came crashing through the roof, the project's founders hope to build an Islamic version of the 92nd Street Y, a community center and prayer space to replace a nearby makeshift mosque.
Last week, when journalists and muckrakers got wind of plans for Cordoba House, as the project is called, the borough and the blogosphere lit up with thoughtful reflection, deep emotion, and unfortunately, bigotry and character assassination.
Local politicians and the Community Board have given a clear response to the hate speech. The Community Board voted 29 to 1 (with 10 abstentions) to build Cordoba House. Mayor Bloomberg said simply, "Our city's open to anybody, no matter what your religion is."
But the deep emotional concerns about the location of Cordoba House have not yet been fully addressed. Listen carefully to their words. Patrick Bahnken, head of a paramedics union: "By no means am I saying the folks trying to build this place are responsible for 9/11, but you still have to take a hard look at it and say, how will it look to have this in your face? It's like salt in the wound - a constant reminder of what they did to us on 9/11." Mike Burke, whose brother was a fireman killed in the attacks: "I think the first concern for the families is that the religious beliefs of the terrorists who struck is going to have such a prominent place right around the corner from Ground Zero." Rosemary Cain, whose son was a firefighter killed in the attacks: "I think it's despicable, and I think it's atrocious that anyone would even consider allowing them to build a mosque near the World Trade Center ... That's sacred ground. It's a slap in the face." And from an angry participant in the May 25 Community Board meeting: "This is an insult, this is demeaning, this is humiliating that you would build a shrine to the very ideology that inspired the attacks of 9/11."
These concerns take on a special urgency on Memorial Day: how exactly can we remember and honor those who were killed? As a rabbi, I'd like to offer two things that seem to be missing from the now public discussion of Cordoba House: a pastoral voice, and a piece of wisdom from the past.
First, a pastoral voice. To some of those who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks, Cordoba House is a slap in the face that generates anger and disgust. In their mind, Muslims perpetrated 9/11, and now Muslims are building a shrine at Ground Zero.
These 9/11 families understand intellectually that the progressive American Muslims advocating for Cordoba House have no connection, theologically or personally, to the terror-thirsty, militant strand of Islam associated with the 9/11 attackers. Yet, for them, these two diametrically opposed groups are still connected in some way. In an honest moment, most Americans would admit that we share this feeling that all Muslims are connected. Muslim theologians would agree: the ummat al-mu'minin is the "community of believers" that make up the Muslim world. So let's acknowledge that while the followers of Cordoba House and the followers of al-Qaeda have radically different visions of Islam, they are both part of the Muslim world.
The other clear concern in these voices is that Ground Zero, and arguably the area around it, is sacred ground. My loved ones died here, they are reminding us. Be very, very careful where you walk.
But what are the boundaries of this sacred site? The architecture of the Biblical Tabernacle is instructive here. The holiest place was the Ark of the Covenant. Surrounding it was the Holy of Holies, and beyond that was the holy place with the altar, table, and lampstand, and beyond that was the outer court, and beyond that was a fence. Sacredness was safeguarded by a series of boundaries.
These voices are crying out to discuss the sacred boundaries of Ground Zero. Cordoba House is two blocks away, a three-minute walk. Is that inside or outside the invisible fence? And who determines what is sacred? To Muslims, many of whom died in the 9/11 attacks, a mosque is a deeply sacred space.
Only by acknowledging and addressing these concerns will the storm swirling around Cordoba House be abated. That's the pastoral voice. Now the wisdom from the past. It is sad but true that people around the world have experienced their own versions of 9/11. Lurking in the aftermath of the world's worst moments of murder and injustice is a precious piece of wisdom.
The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience is a worldwide network of nearly 250 places of memory that remember tragedies as well as triumphs of justice and everyday life. These sites open their spaces for people to talk openly about what happened there and their contemporary legacies.
One such Site of Conscience is Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. In the 1990s, South Africa decided to redevelop the Old Fort Prison that jailed political prisoners like Mandela and Gandhi alongside those who transgressed now-illegal apartheid laws. The Justices of the Constitutional Court deliberately chose to erect the new court in the shadow of the prison in order to learn from the history of a place that once symbolized the abrogation of justice. From the soil of terror would rise a safehouse of justice.
Before the site was redeveloped, a series of dialogues was conducted with various stakeholders, including former prisoners and guards, who described their personal experiences and talked openly about what happened there. The community's input shaped the design of the Constitution Hill complex, including a provision for office space for nonprofits to pursue justice. Without these dialogues, Constitution Hill might never have become what it is today: a place offering ongoing public discussions about how, in light of the past, justice should be defined in the new South Africa.
Another example is Memoria Abierta (Open Memory) in Buenos Aires. For decades, Argentine dictators sponsored violent kidnappings and torture. The terror claimed an estimated 30,000 lives, people who became known simply as "the disappeared." Open Memory has worked to identify hundreds of detention centers and torture sites and mark them as places that preserve memory and denounce authoritarianism. One such site, a former Naval Academy, set off a protracted disagreement among stakeholders, including different victims' groups. Open Memory held a series of forums among victims groups and state authorities, which has allowed the site to be opened in a series of smaller steps. The open dialogues continue today.
The parallel between these sites and Cordoba House is imperfect; Cordoba House is not intended to be a memorial to 9/11. Yet these stories contain wisdom: any development on or near the sacred ground of collective trauma must begin with listening and dialogue.
Cordoba House's founders have started the dialogue, which is why the local Community Board recently backed the proposal. But the dialogue needs to go broader and deeper. At a minimum it must include more families touched by 9/11 (some of whom strongly support the proposal), more nearby residents, and all of us who have trouble distinguishing a Cordoba House Muslim from an al-Qaeda Muslim.
Cordoba House should be built. Right now, however, Ground Zero has too many graves and too few relationships between Muslim-Americans and Americans of other faiths for the project to reach its full potential. By launching a series of community dialogues before the site is developed, Cordoba House can get an early start on becoming a vibrant and world-class facility that promotes tolerance and pluralism.
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The proliferating nature of these anti-mosque demonstrations and their shifting tenor to panicked claims about the imminent threats of "Islamization" and "Shariazation" begs a moment of national introspection.
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Islamic mosque built at 9/11 Ground Zero
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Ground Zero mosque plan has backers and detractors as community ...
For the safety of everyone concerned, I hope cooler heads prevail, and that Cordoba House be positioned in an area less susceptible to the threats of madmen and women.
For all Americans, Muslim and not who share the grief 9/11 has engendered, may peace and wisdom guide the ultimate outcome.
There are no other words for them.
As of now, fundraising for this project hasn't started, and it seems unclear where the money will come from. According to some estimates, it will cost as much $100 million. If American Muslims are committed to this, they should put their money where their mouth is, and fund it entirely with money raised in the United States. If they make this pledge, I'll fully support this project, and I'll even send along a little contribution!
".These 9/11 families understand intellectually that the progressive American Muslims advocating for Cordoba House have no connection," totally untrue...
1st. there is no such thing as a progressive muslim,,,(maybe in 1000 yrs) islam doesn;t recognize it...if you don;t follow the precepts you can't really call yrself a muslim and
2. all muslims by their utter silence have connection with each atrocity commited in their religions name.
We should be encouraging and giving support to moderate Muslims as much as possible.
Peace to all.
Why don;t they try building it in Kabul or Baghdad and provide the US military with pool, gym and free lunches and see what kind of reception they get.
that;s called putting yr money where your mouth is.
don;t take americans (or yr priviledge of being in a "free" (relative to Islam) society) for granted
not cool
How about we improve relations with the Japanese by building huge Christian centers next to former internment camps...we can call it the Mariannas Initiative.
Then we can build a huge Christian church complex at Wounded Knee, and then the Japanese can build a 12 story Shinto shrine next massecre sites in Korea and China! Then the spanish can go and find the last of the native tribes in S.A. and build cathedrals next to THEIR historic massacre sites!
Let us not forget to build German Lutheran churches next to Auswitz and the like! We can call it the Lebesraum Project.
Oh, we must not forget to have the Turks build a huge Mosque complex in Armenia to build a bridge there! And of COURSE there must be a HUGE Serbian Orthodox Catherdral built in Kosovo, prefereably as close to a mass grave site as possible!! I can just see all those local Muslims with dead relatives greeting this gesture or peace and brotherhood with joy!
FEH!
http://hereticscrusade.com
1. the Islam of Spain was considered HERETICAL by the "official" authorities of the time for the very reasons it became great as a culture; and you know it! And let us not forgert that it was mainly inter-Muslim betrayals and fratricides that opened the door for the Spanish to reclaim therir land! Is there anywhere that Islam reigns that infighting amongst uslims is NOT prevalent?
2. The "glories" of your interval in Spain were financed by the native population of "dhimmis" who suffered "sporadic" "incidents" of repression, slaughter and expulsion... until the Spanish piece by piece took it all back.
3. It was Spain, and has been again for many centuries..and guess what? It's gonna stay that way if the locals have anything to say about it.
4. I notice you never answer the MEAT of what I had to say... :)
5. After this display of imperialistic apologetics do not ever let me see you complain about America and the Indians or especially about Israel and the poor "indigenous" (lol) "Palestinians" being badly treated or that they really own the land... turn about is fair play my friend.
A humble boquet of houses of God, existing in tribute.... at the feet of the one of the most awful human tradgedies in which humans of all faiths, and no faith at all , have had sacred life stolen from them.
How better to honor God and man than to build these free standing temples of aspiration within eye shot of the Twin Towers?
Anyway, here's a deal. If the Cordoba House turns out to be some sort of front for illegal religious activities I'll march with you to get the thing torn down but you have to read up on the Cordoba Initiative. Deal?
Will federal prosecutors also be lenient on Sharia Law abusers when that case comes up?
my more general thought is that even within a free society there is a limit to humoring religious ideas in action, and critics like Ayaan Hirsi Ali have seen from the inside what it is like to have one's civil rights denied by religious zealots and watch as they go unchallenged and exploit free societies without playing by their rules and returning tolerance in kind.
This has little to do with the mosque building question, admittedly. But it is a cautionary tale - I don't want our timidity about stepping on toes to be manipulated into allowing sharia law to seep into our country any more than I'd want the Christian dominion folks to prevail. We have a system of laws that doesn't need any magic story to function, as our founders wisely avoided taking sides about religion, so whatever people believe about the supernatural, we can all agree on principles. If any group doesn't honor the right of others to disbelieve their magic story and exist, that is not playing according to our rules, and they have to modify their behavior accordingly no matter what God or Allah supposedly said.
But I am not exactly mainstream in my views - I wouldn't care to see a church built there either.
I'm not "threatened" by it. I understand and sympathize with the pro-arguments, but if I have to err it is on the side that sees this as not a great idea. I am admittedly biased when it comes to religion of all stripes, but I'd defend anyone's right to worship or not as they see fit. Just as long as they don't intrude on the public square with their faith claims and the obligatory rules from their deity. Bounds of reason. As far as religious "moderates" go, no matter what the religion, I agree with Sam Harris.
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Secular-Philosophies/The-Problem-With-Religious-Moderates.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjS0Novt3X4&playnext_from=TL&videos=4WE02kdLY30
he doesn't mince words, but I think it is worth hearing him out.
That said, I'm not about banning religions, just about seeing them clearly and holding all of them to the same standards (any and all supernatural claims are not relevant to science classes other than anthropology, nor are they relevant when forming laws for everyone else).
In my view, the ideal of respecting cultural differences is like bipartisan politics - it has value within the bounds of reason, but when we get into honor killing territory, sacrificing our own ideals to keep from stepping on toes, that starts to become at best counter-productive.