Ground Zero Mosque: Approve or disapprove?
Monday, August 30, 2010 at 12:00AM 
Dr. Wayne Baker is back! He’s been traveling a bit this summer. Today, he returns and writes about a central concern in American life. Please, add a “Comment” today to help restart the ongoing conversation in this new series!
The planned Muslim community center several blocks from the 9/11 site, called by some the Ground Zero Mosque, is a red hot topic. It’s flared many times during my time traveling these past weeks. I get a daily Google alert for any item containing the phrase “our values” and this topic has hit the top of the list day after day, with both opponents and supporters referring to “our values” to make their arguments.
Supporters say it represents religious freedom, tolerance, and diversity. Opponents (like the people at the rally in today’s photo) say it desecrates the hallowed ground of the World Trade Center attacks. This week on OurValues.org, we’ll discuss the proposed community center and what the debate says about our values.
Before we get too far, tell us: Whose side are you on? Do you support or oppose the project? Why? Please, click the “Comment” link below and express yourself.
Today let’s start with how the organizers describe the project now known as Park51, a reference to its address in New York City. Here’s their vision, according to their web site:
Park51 will be dedicated to pluralism, service, arts and culture, education and empowerment, appreciation for our city and a deep respect for our planet. Park51 will join New York to the world, offering a welcoming community center with multiple points of entry. With world-class facilities, a global scope and strong local roots, Park 51 will offer a friendly and accessible platform for conversations across our identities.
Their mission statement includes several points. Here are the top four, also from their web site:
- Uphold respect for the diversity of expression and ideas between all people
- Cultivate and embrace neighborly relations between all New Yorkers, fostering a spirit of civic participation and an awareness of common needs and opportunities
- Encourage open discussion and dialogue on issues of relevance to New Yorkers, Americans and the international reality of our interconnected planet
- Revive the historic Muslim tradition of education, engagement and service, becoming a resource for empowerment and advancement
When you read the vision and mission, what does it stir in you? Does it strengthen your support of the project? Or, does it strengthen your opposition?
Please, click the “Comment” link before you go. And, for more on this topic, read what David and Benjamin Crumm are hearing on their road trip around the country.
Reader Comments (12)
I'm very concerned that the issue has achieved inflammatory status so easily. I fear that our country no longer utilizes critical thinking skills before rising to the bait offered by so many agenda-pushing people. I find it most disconcerting that even with facts and proof, people are so easily manipulated by those who fan the flames of intolerance. Perhaps this is the result of the degeneration of journalism into tabloid status. We used to have faith that those who reported the issues had given it some thought before shoving it our to the masses. Now it is simply a paparazzi...full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The usual reminders that this type of hate-speech once led to the holocaust seems to fall on deaf ears. How can we bring the citizenry back to a discussion of issues rather than a simplistic foment against the unfamiliar?
The proposed community center near "Ground Zero" is, it seems to me, a wonderful opportunity. I hope that in a loving, patient way those wanting to open the center stick with it and garner support from reasonable people of all faiths. It is an opportunity for dialogue, thoughtful recognition of diversity, and for Christians and Jews, in particular, to see how vastly different mainstream Islam is from what comes out of militant, fundamentalist Islam. As a Christian, I will pray that the center opens as a bridge-building gift to the city, and I will pray for the safety and wisdom of all involved.
While I believe it is well within the rights of those who want to build a Mosque to do so, it doesn't mean they should do so. If it is built, hopefully it will show that it will be a peaceful place and that there is a difference between mainstream Islam and the radical groups that perpetuate the negative stereotypes. I do find it a bit odd that so many far right folks are so opposed to the building of the Mosque, when the constitution they hold so near and dear to their hearts clearly states in the First Ammendment that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion. Then again, the same ammendment allows for peaceful assembly and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
I am a supporter of the Islamic Center because of our American value of religious freedom. The developers of the Center are offering a non-violent expression of Islam and promoting dialogue among diverse Americans and the international community. I hope most Americans will give this Center their support as well as the cosmopolitan New Yorkers. Muslims died on 9-11, just as Christians, Jews, and non religious persons died on 9-11. Let's support something constructive instead of continuing the destruction started by former Pres. George Bush. "War is Not the Answer" maybe community center building is! I'm wanting to give it a go!
Public dialogue would, ideally, offer rational verifiable argument and counter argument.
If the government takes steps against a religious organization, the government breakes the law unless inforcing existing law.
If a mob does, that constitutes criminal violence.
Here we are, after 30 years of underfunding and under valuing public infrastructure, education and basic research.
Debate on minimum levels of funding for infrastructure (Levies, bridges, roads, internet hard ware etc.) education, and basic research and the consequences of each level of funding would be a rational response to our current national morass.
Finding someone to blame and continuing our slide to ruin is not.
Can't say it any better than Linda did.
I am so frustrated and bothered with the people that constantly rant about religious freedom and the "right" that the Muslim community has to build this Mosque. Supporters are incensed that opponents seem not to realize that the center is supposed to be about peace, good will, community action, etc. etc., and that they just generate "hate speech". The legitimate concerns of the opponents are drowned out in the rhetoric of the supporters. so I'm asking: why can't they listen to our concerns and not marginalize us?
Among my concerns, it bothers me that the Muslim community doesn't show any sensitivity or consideration to the people that lost loved ones in the 911 attack and who are protesting the center based on the clearly known fact that it was Islamic extremists that carried out the attack. Why is it not appropriate to be considerate to these people? Why can't they simply, out of respect for and sensitivity to the obvious connection of Islam to "ground zero", be gracious and look for a more appropriate place? In fact, I'm sure that those opponents are willing to have the mosque built somewhere else, farther away, right?
Instead, the victims are profiled as "hate-mongers" who are violating the rights of the Muslims. Why doesn't anyone speak up for them? Why is there no sensitivity to or consideration for the memory of ALL the victims of 911?
Part of the reason I think that they have a legitimate issue is the fact that the Muslim community in American have not, in my opinion, done much to reach out to America in general to assure us that the MAJORITY of their Islamic adherents are not fundamentalists that are committed to fulfill the demands of the quran (koran?) to convert all and kill those who do not comply with Islamic law; they have not come out and reassured the public that they do not have a secret agenda to institute Sharia Law in this country. So, in the face of this view of them as a community, I can't help seeing them as being "in our face" and putting one over on us--first tacitly sanctioning the 911 attack and then making us agree to let them boldly establish their presence in the same location! I can't help feeling their lack of caring for us non-Muslims...
I find it amazing how so many in this country cry out against Christian fundamentalists, who they see as wanting to impose biblical-based laws on all of us, when the method used by the Christians is the usual ballot-box and special-interest groups that all other political movements use. But the Islamic fundamentalists have clearly shown that their M.O. is to kill people, break things, and take over by their sheer numbers. And when they do, THEY WILL NOT CARE AN IOTA ABOUT OUR RIGHTS OR OUR RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS--THEY WILL NOT ALLOW ANY--ALL WILL BE SUBJECT TO ISLAMIC LAW, WHICH INCLUDES ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHTS OR FREEDOMS FOR WOMEN, BTW. Sorry to yell like that, but I am baffled about the huge silence by women in this country regarding the horrid treatment of women and children by men simply exercising common Islamic law and practice. Why is there no outrage and outcry against this? Instead, there is outcry that we won't let them "railroad" right over us and build their religious center (read Islamic training center for raising up an army to be used at a certain time).
I am not a religious bigot, I am just someone that is aware of the facts-that there are people that have a secret agenda to subjugate this country, using Islamic fundamentalists, so as to bring us to our knees, so that we will be easily stripped of our sovereignty and then "integrated" into the world community and govt.
We seem willing to give up our freedoms and rights for the sake of "political correctness" or safety. I wish that more people would do their research on what's really happening in this country...
I would like to agree with "Linda" but I find that although I desire to agree I can't. I'm more in the camp of "Seaside Roses" and believe that although the right exists to build the Mosque near the WTC, it doesn't take into account the views of those that lost their loved ones on 9/11 nor the views of the public in general. I will fight to my death the right for people to have "Freedom of Religion." That is not the issue. The issue is whether or not it's appropriate to build this Mosque so close to the WTC site. I, for one, do not think it is. And if those, including Iman Rauf, were to really want to "cultivate and embrace neighborly relations," they would understand that their approach is not the way. Build it someplace else, but not at the WTC site. I honestly do not trust the motives of the Imam, and the Park 51 mission statement is less than persuasive. If we want dialogue, let's talk about the effort as the Cordoa Initiative and how it relates to what happened in Spain, let's talk about the Hamas as a terrorist organization and why the Imam desn't want to declare Hamas as such, let's talk about the funding for the project, let's talk about the all those things. But without Journalists, they won't be discussed in the media as the hard questions won't be asked. What a shame. You asked about their vision and mission; I have a difficult time accepting them at face value. You don't need to build a mosque to accomplish these objectives and they can be pursued at another location. When they pursue the stated objectives, I may believe they are truly sincere.
There have been several in depth articles written in the NY Times and Newsweek (no doubt in other publications I haven't read), shedding some light on the history of the proposed Islamic Community Center. I was particularly impressed to read how the Imam and his wife met with leaders of a Jewish Community Center in Manhattan for guidance. I learned the Imam and developer presented their proposal to the local Community Board this past May and obtained that board's unanimous approval. Other community organizations, including a Catholic Church located adjacent to Ground Zero, spoke in favor of the project. I have read the Church's unequivocal support for the project. The Imam and Cordoba Initiative have been active and involved, with other community organizations such as the Jewish Community Center and Catholic Church for many years. It seems to me the Imam and developer did all the right things in obtaining local public support and advice. I also learned that there is "demand" for a prayer center (Mosque) in that vicinity, as a large group or Muslims, employed in the area, are already meeting for prayers at the proposed Community Center site, (an abandoned Burlington Coat Factory building). There are at least two other Mosques, one led by Imam Rauf, located nearby. I can understand someone having an initial, visceral negative reaction when first hearing of a "Mosque at Ground Zero". One of my first thoughts was along the lines that, in deference to the feelings of victim families and other New Yorkers, perhaps an Islamic Community Center should be located another two, four blocks away from Ground Zero. However, after further reading and reflection, I believe the Center will prove to be a healing, positive addition to what, after all, is a commercial district located close to, but not "on" or "at" Ground Zero.
In response to D Crouch...
why is it the responsibility of Muslims to "reach out" to you in order to correct assumptions YOU make about them? If your concerns are so deeply held, get up and visit as many Mosques as you can, talk to the people that worship there. I am sure you will find as varied opinions as you will at Catholic, Baptist, AME, Methodist, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Westoboro Baptist Church, Pentecostals, Fundamentalists, conservative, Reformed or Orthodox Synagogues.
I can't help feeling their lack of caring for us non-Muslims...
Should someones rights be abridged because your FEELINGS might be hurt? Should someones child be denied and after school program because you FEEL attacked, when in fact you are NOT being attacked at all?
Your comparison to Christian Fundamentalism lacks some perspective. Xtian fundamentalists have KILLED people, blown up doctors offices and attacked the Olympics. They, so far, have not managed to kill 3000 people, but are we going to argue about who is better at killing masses of people?
Should we hold members of groups accountable for extremists that operate within the same paradigms? Is that what Jesus taught? Do you hold veterans accountable for Tim McVeigh? All Chritians accountable for the death of George Tiller?
I find it commendable that some people want to build a PEACE center at the site of a reprehensible attack. Better than those that just want the building to go back up so they can get back to global business operations.
After reading the posts and a few articles about Park 51 I find myself wondering if there really is a dichotomy of views or if the concern to respect freedom or religion is addressed by both sides and also if the concern to address who gets to be heard isn't also being addressed by both sides. And I also find some small hope in people simply responding. I wondered when I read the information about Park 51's goals how I would know I was welcomed as a white, christian, woman? Welcome seems to be a difficult environment to come by these days. I also wonder how we know when we've "been heard"? Would it mean that the protesters as a group simply said "thanks you've really explained that well, now I understand" or would it mean that the Imam and the organizers of Park 51 agreed to move to a different location and said "we chose to relocate because we see and hear your frustration"? Trust is a gift. May we journey on.
As a resident of downtown Manhattan at the time of the attack (and
currently) I’m not crazy about having the mosque in that location, but
support the group’s constitutional right to buy property where they wish,
and locate where they wish.
I believe that the issue surrounding the mosque is a bit of a stalking
horse for a different issue, at least from my perspective. From that
perspective, my take is that the separation between church and state is one
deeply structural reason for the US having enjoyed its historical success
in all other dimensions. As a descendant of a fellow who was an early
proponent of that concept, my fear doesn’t center around a mosque, it
centers around ANY group which wants to intermingle the secular and the
divine. I would have to say that Bush, Cheney et.al. scare me roughly as
much as any other group of “fundamentalists”, notwithstanding their
homegrown vintage.
Based on what I have read, Islam is slanted toward creating a theocracy, a
concept which I find abhorrent, because I believe it would set our
civilization back roughly 1,000 years. Even though the particular adherents
behind the proposed mosque are said to represent a relatively benign
variant of Islam, that fear remains.
In other words, I believe you are, in some sense, looking at the wrong
issue. I don’t in any sense demand that any group affirmatively adopt any
particular aspect of America’s mythology/ideology; I do think it almost
mandatory that all groups accept the separation of church and state.
Will the adherents and proponents of Islam maintain the separation, or will
they drive toward imposing a theocracy on the countries where they take up
residence? If the former, I would welcome members of their faith in
unlimited numbers; if the latter, any sized group is too large. Again, I
hold this to be true for any and all faiths.
RW
(posted on behalf of RW from an email sent to OurValues)