What if they opposed a shul?
by: H. A. Goodman on August 27th, 2010 | 37 Comments »
What if you opened up your email and saw the following headline: “Join us in our opposition to a planned synagogue near Wall Street.” Then, after reading further, it blamed the entire Jewish community for the depraved actions of a few. Imagine if the letter spoke at length about Bernie Madoff, Andrew Fastow, Jack Abramov, Ivan Boesky and even Meyer Lansky and David Berkowitz to create a picture of Jews far removed from reality. Needless to say, the first words out of your mouth might be “anti-Semitism.”
In this imaginary world, however, most Americans are now open to this train of thought. Pundits on radio and television echo the sentiment that the financial collapse we all experience is the work of Jewish bankers who’ve lauded risky financial instruments. Then, just as they reject the notion that a synagogue of all things could be built near the site where so many people had lost their American dream, pundits don’t forget to mention that most Jews are good people and that a synagogue built farther away from Wall Street might make more sense. “It is insensitive to build a synagogue near Wall Street,” is a phrase heard countless number of times. In addition, educated people of all backgrounds pontificate the potential dangers of allowing this synagogue to be built: “What if more Bernie Madoffs have their Bar Mitzvah at this synagogue?”
Reason and logic are as much anti-Semitism’s kryptonite as falsely legitimized fear and justified bigotry are its spinach. A man 60 years ago once made the following observation of human nature: “… the best speaker is… the speaker who knows how to win the hearts of the masses.” Therefore, this world leader preferred to legitimize irrational fears by promoting ancient prejudices.
That man was Adolf Hitler. The quote above, from Mein Kampf, highlights exactly what is at the heart of the debate over this mosque. We indict all Muslim Americans for the actions of 19 insane men by saying they shouldn’t build a mosque near Ground Zero. Only if you equate American Muslims with the Taliban or Al-Qaeda can you logically say the mosque is a threat to American values. In addition, 9/11 was committed in the name of a perverted interpretation of Islam, not the Islam worshipped by Muslims in this country or in most places around the world. If you believe that the only people who utilize religion to further terrorist ambitions are Muslim, go speak to both Catholics and Protestants from Northern Ireland.
Furthermore, the United States military is fighting counter-insurgency wars in two Muslim countries where recruiters of Al-Qaeda and insurgent groups feed off the intolerance displayed by the opposition to this mosque.
Muslim Americans are fighting in these wars as well.
On August 6, 2007 Specialist Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan of the United States Army was killed along with three other American soldiers when a bomb detonated as they were checking abandoned houses for explosives in Baquba, Iraq.
If you have the audacity, try telling this American patriot’s family that they don’t have the right to pray at a mosque near Ground Zero.
H. A. Goodman is a former financial advisor and high school history teacher. He has a B. A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California andhas also worked at theU.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute. He is currently an author of fantasy and science fiction novels. He recently combined his love for fantasy and international relations to write his debut novel, Logic of Demons, The Quest for Nadine’s Soul. H. A. Goodman currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.
Hal, this is a very well-written article on the state of “tolerance” in our country. During lean economic times, people of doubtful character with ulterior motives, have historically manipulated the minds and souls of many. Our job is to be a better “speaker” than this group. Your article is one of many exposing this phenomenon.
It needs to be said–and it needs to be said as many times as necessary. THANK YOU!!!
I do not feel that it is fair to equate the building of a mosque at Ground Zero to that of a synagogue in Wall Street. It is also important to note that the mosque planned is not a simple ground level mosque but a community center and mosque that will tower over other buildings. No one refutes the right to build a mosque, but many,( even a large percentage of Americans) do not feel that it is right thing to do, as it is not sensitive to the pain and suffering of the families of those who perished, New Yorkers, and concerns of other American citizens. If this building of the mosque was truly about reconcilation, they would be not proceed if even one person would be hurt by its building. That would show sensitivity and generiousity of spirit. I know that this position is not politically correct, but relocating this moque would be an act that shows sensitivity to the feelings of many people. Telling people to not have the feelings that they have, or that they are being bigoted because they have these feelings is not right. You may not agree with their feelings, but they are their feelings. They can sell this building at a significant profit and build elsewhere, at least 20 blocks away.
It is not a “mosque” at all, however, but a Sufi Muslim-run community center, open to all. This is like calling the YMCA a “church,” or a Jewish Community Center a “synagogue.” By labeling it as a “mosque” (and then repeating it ad infinitum on Fox News and right wing hate radio) they are deliberately twisting the facts to engender fear and loathing. Those who purchased this site with this legitimate purpose in mind are every bit as entitled to their project as you or I would be, were we in their place. The Sufis are an open and tolerant sect, and no more resemble Wahhabi fanatics than Quakers do the gun-toting Christian Identity fanatics!
It is easiest to agree with those who exactly share our own position and view. There is no discomfort then.
The difficulty is when we experience some discomfort that toleration of anothers’ legally permitted action is hardest. The word “tolerance” is derived from the Latin “tolerentia” which means: the capacity to endure pain or adversity! No wonder toleration of others who differ from ourselves is so difficult/rare. If the others create no pain or adversity (by being “more sensitive” -why 20 blocks? Why not 25 blocks?) then we sure can be tolerant.
In fact over the years people HAVE opposed the construction of synagogues – especially Orthodox and chassidic synagogues – for a whole host of made-up reasons that range from “too much traffic on weekends” (despite the fact that orthodox Jews walk to the synagogue on weekends) to “noise” (sound of psalms being sung interferes with blaring boombox while washing car), etc etc etc, simply because they feel a distaste for the people building the synagogue but can’t say that out loud.
Here we have a different situation because “terrorism” (implying that all Muslims are terrorists) and “sensitivity for the 9/11 families” (who are not sensitive to pornography shops on their “hallowed ground”) are the golden Joker cards that trump all others.
A very well-stated article, that clearly shows how Republicans are shamelessly trading in the pernicious logic of religious bigotry. Such were the toxins, disseminated through mass media, that engendered the pogroms and the Holocaust, not to mention all subsequent genocidal massacres–of Muslims in Yugoslavia, of Tutsis by the Hutus in Rwanda, and of intellectuals and ordinary citizens by the Pol Pot regime.
However, the cause of truth and candor could be sustained even better if you dropped the silly official narrative about 19 “insane men” who purportedly wrought the 9/11 attacks (though neither their names, nor any other Arabic names, ever appeared on the originally published passenger lists of the four planes) and accepted the plain, irrefutable fact that the “official story” of the collapsing twin towers and building 7 violates the basic, elementary laws of thermodynamics, and thus is utterly impossible.
One question will suffice to illustrate my point: By what physical law can the top sixth of a steel-frame skyscraper simultaneously disintegrate and pulverize the undamaged lower five-sixths at freefall rate, without encountering any resistance? No physical law in this universe that I know of would allow such an event. In which case a collateral source of energy becomes essential to any hypothesis explaining such catastrophic collapses. And a scientific paper by physicist Steven Jones, et al, published in a peer-reviewed Swiss journal, provides prima facie evidence for the source of this collateral energy: tiny, microscopic grains of unexploded, military-grade nanothermite were found in all the dust samples taken from the site. If you don’t believe me, go to ae911truth.com–the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 truth. These are architectural professionals raising legitimate scientific questions, not “wacko conspiracy theorists.”
Thomas, I agree completely with your suggestion to look deeper toward finding what really happened to cause the collapse of not two, but 3 major skyscrapers on 9-11, particularly the rock-solid scientific work of AE 9-11 Truth, their website, etc. As I think you also agree, even if the collapses were solely the work of 19 foreign terrorists via hijacked planes and the resulting fires and damage, there is no logical connection to lead to fear and suspension of constitutional and “inalienable” rights for Sufi or other Muslims because of the location of a proposed community center, containing a mosque (or a mosque alone).
Regardless, as you well say, we have been way too quick to accept fatally flawed explanations, because of their “official ” status, of what all happened that fateful day. The major media outlets, virtually ALL of them, have let us down as well, and added to misinformation and distortion, so people MUST do their own searching, and fortunately the Internet makes this quick and easy. AE911truth.org is a great place to start.
I heard a great conspiracy theory over dinner at a bed and breakfast in Ladakh, northern India, when i was there 3 years ago; I was sitting with some students from Kashmir. One student asked me as an American if I was a member of the Democratic Party. I said yes. He then asked of Bush and Giuliani, planned 911. I answered that Bush is not intelligent enough to do it. As for Giuliani, as much as i loath him, i can never deny that he is a New Yorker who loves his city. He then told me about this great documentary about how Bush and Giuliani planned 911. We know who planned and implemented 911 and we know why. What i cannot understand is that how we did not anticipate it. Oceans no longer insulate us from terrorism. AQ, PLO, Hezbollah and other extremist groups were carrying out terror attack around the world; it was bound to hit our shores
The tumult that has developed over the Muslim community center proposed near Ground Zero in Manhattan is an example of gross intolerance. It is not a Mosque! It is a community center with a prayer room included in the design. The organized American Jewish community should publicly support such a project because of its’ historical experience with anti-Semitism. Early in this country’s history, when American Jews wanted to construct a synagogue, they were met with the same kind of resistance as is the Muslim community currently.
Even if it WERE a mosque, they have every right to build it.
If Ms Melinda Riber had been sent as a correspondent to cover the Nuernberg Trials, or asked to participate in the preparation of the prosecution of the German leaders, would she have been shy about offending their sincere feelings about democrats, Jews, Slavs and others?
Thanks to H.A. Goodman for “What if they opposed a Shul” and to Hank Silver and Melissa Ribner for their contributions.
There are at least two distinct sides of this coin in terms of public sentiment over the construction of the Community Center in Manhattan.Both sentiments are emotional, based on past history and quite well voiced now that the debate has moderated with time.
I can hear the voice of New Yorkers as they lament their tragedy being seemingly co-opted by the controversy surrounding this project and also the voices of those who feel that all of the hoopla has been ginned up for political capital for the GOP at mid terms. This is an issue which polarizes Americans along liberal or conservative lines of narrative concerning what America stands for post 911 and during several wars involving Muslim nations and their affinities.
Bush voiced the opinion that all nations and peoples must either side with America in the war on terror or against the precept of aggressive warfare based on intelligence regarding possible threats to Israel, NATO nations Great Britain and the United States. The conceptual inclusion of Islam as the religion of 911 perpetrators is weaker than the reality surrounding this tragedy. It is sure that Israel benefited from the event as did Cheney and his ideal voiced in the PNAC, written by advocates of Israel and their counterparts in US conservatism based in the GOP primarily but also in Blue Dog democrats with ties to big banking and Wall street.
The plausible explanation for such a divisive front concerning the Muslim Community center in Manhattan is found in these dichotomies between faction inherent in US politics.New Yorkers against the center feel as though it is their city, their Manhattan and their life lived with such a center for Muslim interfaith culture, which they seem to reject in their neighborhood.Liberal opinion cites the constitution, business ethics and human rights concerning religion ensconced in our bill of rights and constitution.
In my opinion, free speech, human rights and the law trump personal sentiments, especially when religion and politics mesh surrounding such an issue. If it is right for Conservatives to feel uncomfortable in the presence of interfaith culture surrounding Islam it is their own vision which stifles this project’s intention, not the projects intention which stifles their rights or freedoms. Islam is reaching out with love to cowards with selfish affinities based on ethnic and cultural exclusion ism, not free speech or concern for equal rights of all Americans. The opposed side of this debate seems inherently weak while the for side seem based in fairness, equality of peoples and inclusion of interfaith studies as the way forward from myopic hysteria.
We are America, not Israel, this is not a Jews only nation or a Christian nation per se, but a free and
fair democratic melting pot of all of the planets diverse peoples in one nation, opting for inclusion as their way of life by our charter as written , not by the base and shallow feelings of sentimental fools with their own tragic selfishness to blame for their lives of shameful one upsmanship and demonising presentations against Islamic peoples. Shame is leveled where it is due, brothers and sisters, not where it is not, Shame belongs where peoples reason that they are better than others because they are of one persuasion against another. Infighting along religious or ethnic lines is tantamount to destabilization for
the betterment of one group over another, or what is referred to as sedition.
America is America, not little Israel get over it, get real and get out from under that dark cloud of us verses them, it’s over, we have good reason to celebrate democracy if it is democratic, not if driven by special interests with big money riding on campaigns, ENOUGH, Be nice be welcoming and be righteous believers, not raucous instigators.
I read your article, the issue we have in the United States is not hatred of the mosque by Americans, but the facts are that Christian are losing members in their churches. Even the mega churches in Texas have lost members.
In order to make themselves relevant, a small minority of church members have created this rukus in order to get new members and keep from growing under. In the New York area itself, even the Catholic Church cannot find priests. So they are importing them.
The fight is not with muslims, or a matter of intolerance as protrayed by the media, but rather an effort to gain members for the losing churches. Similarly, the mosques have lost members, and American born muslims just like the native american born, have a small propensity to go to the mosque.
So just keep faith, Churches and mosques will lose the fight for ideas
The Republicans have their issues lined up for this election: Muslims, mosques, immigrants, gays, Glenn Beck’s “honoring America,” patriotism, God, and sound bites like: “More jobs!” “Less government!” “No deficits!” “Socialism!” I forgot…..throw in the old fear and smear tactics for extra measure. Remember, this is the home of the easily scared and manipulated. And corporate America sits back and laughs while they bankroll another friend’s campaign.
Thank you, Thomas, for your comments about the Sufi center. In all the noise of this controversy, I have heard only once (on NPR) hat the Muslims in question are Sufis. It seems to me that this is extremely important. (Could you verify it, please?) While even a Salafist mosque would have a right to build – a right which every American ought to hold sacred – the fact that the objection is to a Sufi center is all the more outrageous.
Because Sufis are exactly the kind of Muslims who could be willing allies in promoting peace. You are right to compare them to Quakers, except that they represent a much larger percentage of Muslims than the Quakers’ percentage of Christians. it is estimated that as many as half of Pakistan’s Muslims, for example, are Sufis. Leaving aside arguments from morality or the Constitution, it is in our national self-interest to PROMOTE these people and to encourage their influence. It is not in our national self-interest to insult them. Real patriotism, derived either from the First Amendment or from Realpolitik, would support the center, not oppose it.
If some be hurt by it, that is a result of ignorance and misinformation. The remedy for that is knowledge and facts, not surrender to the demagogues. One might also ask why the sensibilities of the families of Muslims who died in the Twin Towers are less important than those of the ignorant and misinformed.
Well I am not a Republican…I used to consider myself a liberal…a progressive.What I remain is a person who can think for themselves…….and .a person who believes that the time has come for human beings to evolve…to a higher form…by growing a more tolerant society.
but the group think around this cultural center has angered me. Why is it necessary to build this particular center at this particular spot at this particular time? It will not foster acceptance…it will not foster compassion….it will not strenghten America…..
Americans are currently suffereing..and our government since bush has been contributing a large portion of the cost of building cultural centers/mosques around America in the hope that Islamics youth will gain a love for rather than a hatred of America and Americans. And has it worked?.
Perhaps you guys can go on Alternet….the attitudes of those that believe that America is evil and even though they have no plan for change…..and believe the only action is to wait for it to crumble……and that Israel and America are responsible for Ground Zero…and Zionists are the worst even though they will not agree that Israel has a right to exist in safety……..and that terrorist are not working for a better world……and the Jew bashing…for what purpose………it could not b e for the purpose of peace on earth and good will to men.
The time has come…to stop taking just one side..and see the multifacited pieces of truth. The anger against this cultural center/mosque has little to do with tolerance. it has to do with the fact that even though there are many good American Muslums and Islamics……Americans do not know..which ones are on our side..and which are helping America crumble by inciting anger and hate and pieces of truth wrapped in lies…….
Now the difference between many of these immigrants and those of the past..is that in the past most people came to America to build a better life…to be safe…to be free……..and they added to the American landscape by contributions they made to help build her………
Time will give us all..a chance to accept each other…they to accept life in America…..and us…to (knowthem……by living and working together….surely building a few more blocks away……*(.Governor Patterson offered to find a plot……that was rejected.).inorder to buy the time to adjust to each other……could not harm their intent of building a culture site that will foster community………and would surely benefit a more peaceful adjustment.
Furthermore, this is the time for Americans to come together and focus in on our priorities…..work to save our rights..our liberties…our economy……….This fight is just a diversion from the issues that are bringing down America.
/we are very proud of your tolerant hard work on the behalf of the Muslim community. However, we have much work to be done here in our beloved America……..and a few blocks to fosters community and show good intentions…..surely does not seem like such a big deal……
Ellie,
You write that “our government since bush has been contributing a large portion of the cost of building cultural centers/mosques around America in the hope that Islamics youth will gain a love for rather than a hatred of America and Americans”. Could you direct me to the source(s) of this information? As far as I know, it is unconstitutional for the US government to subsidize ANY religious foundation, including community centers, not just houses of worship.
If the shul were to be run by a man who cavorts with terrorists, is supported by terrorists, and makes apologies for terrorists, then we would have reason to question the wisdom of allowing the shul to be built. If the facility were truly a community center, instead of a probable gathering place for radicals belonging to the most intolerant religion on this planet, then things might be different. Imam Rauf is no bridge-builder, and this project is the latest in a long line of triumphalist mosques built on or near the sites of conquest. Some of the people who support this project are the very types of people who would have gladly supplied the box-cutters used to kill airline passengers and the scimitars used to behead Westerners on video to those who so obviously misunderstand the religion of peace.
OK. Thomas says Imam Rauf is a Sufi, I asked hi for verification of that, as I now ask you to support your statement implying that he “cavorts with terrorists, is supported by terrorists, and makes apologies for terrorists”. What is the evidence that a Sufi center would become a gathering place for “for radicals belonging to the most intolerant religion on this planet”? If Imam Rauf is, indeed a Sufi, then he is represents a very large section of that “intolerant’ religion, which is know for its tolerance, and which has suffered at the hands of zealot co-religionists for centuries. Does that prove that Islam is “the most intolerant religion on this planet”? I think, rather, that is shows that Islam – like all large, world religions is a mixed bag. It has its fanatics as well as its mystics and saints.
Please show me evidence (beyond mere assertion) that Imam Rauf is supported by terrorists. Who are these people? How significant is their support? As for being an apologist, I have heard it asserted that he refuses to call Hammas “terrorists”. i don’t know if this is true, but what if it is? Do the Quakers do so? I don’t think so. Does that make the Quakers “apologists” for terrorists? As a rule, the Quakers and the Sufis try to avoid using inflammatory labels at all. Let’s remember that holocaust survivors Albert Einstein and Hannah Arendt objected to Menachem Begin’s visit to the United States, on the grounds that he was a terrorist. And Nelson Mandela was so-labeled at one time. So the mere fact that a person, like Imam Rauf, will not use that word proves nothing about who he is or what he believes, except that he is careful not to insult anybody.
I suggest that we might be equally careful concerning him. If he is, as Thomas Ellis suggests, a Sufi, then is he not exactly the kind of Muslim we ought to support? Unless, of course, one thinks that Muslims are by definition “intolerant”, that there is no such thing as a peaceful Muslim, and that Sufism merely disguises an underlying and innate terrorist inclination.
I think those on the far left have to recognize that in recent decades the messages emerging from the Muslim world has been highjacked by extremests. That said, I strongly support the islamic community center near ground zero for the simple reason it is lawful and supported by our constitution. The moment we choose mob rule over our constitution is the moment we are lose to the very extemists who brought down the World Trade Center towers. Al Qaida’s intent was to strike America ni the heart and watch as our nation drifts into sea of rage. We surrvived the tyrants of WW 2 with our constitution intact, the same should hold true after 911.
Ground Zero is also hallowed ground for the memory of more than 60 Muslim victims of 9/11.
Inspite of the fact that I am disappointed at how a large percentage of others feels about muslims, I am so proud of belonging to a country that people have the right to express heir opinion so clearly, inspite of the fact it is against many who can be as loud, with t he help of many media outlets.
I hope I don’t wake up -one day- to find myself in a place where “some groups” get labelled as bad all the way, which would justify any thing horrible happen to them. The world went through that experience many times alredy -Nazi Germany, Bosnia, owanda, and many others -, I think most of us would agree that we don’t need to experiment with that again.
I hope though we come to think about the issue the same way the author of this article did. More logic, less hate and less prejudice.
Mr. Goodman, thanks for adding your intelligent thoughts to the pot, may be the result would be a better experience for all of us, rather than a bad one.
Kamal,
You left out the Taliban when the were in power in Afghanistan
Thank you, H. A. Goodman, for putting into words exactly what I have been thinking, but was not quite able to articulate. Some of the anti-Muslim rhetoric I’ve heard sounds way to much like what the Nazis said about Jews.
A logical and humane answer to all the rhetoric regarding the mosque at ground zero.
That said, throughout our history of the human race and the wiring inside our heads; we automatically asign guilt to ALL of a race, or religion, or sexual differences. You just can’t argue with that.
There is nothing that stimulates that region of our hate complex in the brain than finding out someone of a religious leaning has caused harm to one of their own family(s).
If I were going to talk to those who hate so much that they are blinded by logic and humanity I would FIRST have to talk to those of that group as a whole. I would have to convince them that they must COME OUT of their religious closet and become vocal AGAINST violence and hatred themselves.
If there is anyone to blame; if there is really anyone to blame, it is the MEDIA. In their effort to
get the STORY OUT THERE, they leave out the really important items. They leave out how many jews were killed in 9/11., they leave out how many moslems were killed, how many catholics, protestants, etc.
Perhaps they think that it would create controversy if they did that. They’re wrong. A comment from a TV show and a detective in a long coat and a cocked head used to say…” JUST THE FACTS..MAAM;”
just the facts.! Thats what we need.
How can the people govern without the true facts.? Impossible. How can we elect politicians unless we know all the facts? Impossible.
It was anger and hatred that created 9/11. They had reason to hate and be angry. You see, I don’t have all the facts. Someone does, and they’re not telling. That’s why rumors fly. Thats why regular citizens like you and I rush to conclusions. It was anger that led Pres. Bush to go into IRAQ. Now look where we’re at.
I know that if the Prez had a couple more months and better intelligence, he would not have done it.
Let just say that he wouldn’t have done it in that way. But you know, the military is always itching to go into action.
In deference to all those that suffered in 9/11/01, and with the knowledge that there are several mosques already in that vicinity, I suggest that the plans for the new mosque be scrapped.
All logical citizens must question the motives of those behind that new mosque. We know that some terrorists plan their whole lives to plan and execute one terrorist act, killing many including themselves.
How can anyone in their right mind think logically about that???
The Jews have a definite part in all this. I don’t believe that if the Palestine issue is resolved, that the moslem fanatics will cool down, and go their way in peace. No, Moslems and Jews have been at war with one another since before the time of Christ. I don’t expect that to change soon.
I do believe that if the Palestine issue is solved, it will create some peace for a while.
Then there is IRAN. How would you feel if you knew that IRAN has produced most of all the weapons for the insurgents in the war in Afghanistan, and pakistan, and of course IRAQ.
We can’t forget North Korea, who is bent on creating a nuclear weapon to SELL to terrorists. The same with IRAN.
We live in terrible times. Many say that there were many civilizations before ours. That they killed themselves off with really bad weapons. Perhaps we will do the same, and the earth itself will survive.
Unfortunately a lot of animals will die too. What a shame.
The Muslim fanatics seem to have an issue with Israelis existance, period.
Thank you, Mr. Goodman. Most of us who read TIKKUN realize that this hysterical foofaraw has been trumped up by our corrupted, right-wing-owned mass media.
I wish I could afford to travel to NYC and back I’d be near Ground Zero with fellow Unitarian Universalists. I can’t, so I’ll acknowledge in writing the Constititional and moral right of ANY religion, including those whose theology or polity doesn’t agree with my views, to build a community center, a gymnasium, a park with their religious symbols, a senior center, a day care center, a religious school, a sectarian hospital, a refuge for immigrants OR a house of worship wherever they can obtain the land through legal purchase. Asking any of these faiths to “move” is the real insensitivity!
What’s next? Get rid of unwanted Muslims by burning “alien” sectarian bujildings in the Ku Klux Klan manner of destroying black churches? Proving once again that the really dangerous terrorists are the paranoids born in the U.S. who are so weak they cannot tolerate any competition?
I lost a son in a terrorist attack. Many Muslim women have lost sons and daughters in attacks they deem to be by terrorist – from many nations. Until women, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, agnostic, atheist, Hindu, on and on say “No more will we encourage our sons and daughters to fight wars that benefit corporation’s and politician’s agendas will we find some peace.” Religiosity and ultra-nationalism are used to incite us (the masses.)
Dear Caroline,
I am very sorry for your loss. I thank you for your contribution to this discussion and I respect greatly your courage as well as your philosophy.
H. A. Goodman
Hello Everyone,
I appreciate the kind words as well as all the feedback. In addition, I am thankful to Tikkun for giving me this opportunity.
One of the fundamental issues I see with this debate is the irrational legitimization of rational emotions that stem from the 9/11 attacks. The unspeakable horror of having your son’s body vaporized by the explosion on that day would cause anyone hatred, resentment, anger, and immense sadness.
I believe it is only natural to feel these emotions when thinking of 9/11 – espcially if you had a family member who perished. HOWEVER, I aim all my feelings of anger towards Al-Qaeda, not my fellow Americans. Al-Queda is the enemy and is composed of zealots who utilize religion to further their own military and political goals. Muslim Americans haven’t harmed anyone.
In this country, you’re innocent until proven guilty or at least charged with a crime. Muslim Americans had nothing to do with 9/11, therefore they need not atone for anything. Furthermore, guilt by association is the basis of anti-Semitism and all other hatred. Why should I hate my fellow American just because terrorists from another country claims to act in the name of Islam? Anyone can commit any attrocity and claim any religion. The vast terror networks associated with Muslim extremists have no connection to the many Muslim Americans I consider dear friends.
I see the irrationality over the Ground Zero mosque/community center as a potential precursor to anti-Semitism. With only a slight change in the political and economic climate of our country, Jewish Americans can be the next community to experience a backlash.
As a Jew, I find the manufactured “outrage” over the mosque offensive and embarrasing.
I appreciate the time all of you have spent reading my article.
H. A. Goodman
Thanks again, Mr. Goodman.
If terrorists succeed in making us hate each other, then they have won. President Bush was fond of saying that terrorists “hate our way of life”, that they want to destroy it. What is our “way of life” if not toleration of all religious beliefs and practices? If we modify that in the face of terrorist attack, then I would say the terrorists have already won: we shall have destroyed our own way of life.
Re: Luckyfella 1 who said: “No, Moslems and Jews have been at war with one another since before the time of Christ. I don’t expect that to change soon.” Islam was “born” about 600 years after the time of Christ, not before. Jesus is a prophet in Islam.
It’s noble and morally commendable for Mr. Goodman to tout reason over irrational emotion in this article, especially in light of his own religious background.
Rights and Wrongs
Re: Goodman et al , well nearly all. I am now and have been a liberal and publicly spoken as a civil libertarian Quaker for many decades and have had a good experience living, with my family, in a Muslim nation for the UN, but am appalled by the pathetic intellectual lack of logic expressed in nearly all Comments here. Tikkun readers can surely be expected to think more clearly. Most are surely high-school and even college graduates who seem, when the chips are down, to have never learned or absorbed the difference between crime, [legally forbidden and punishable error], and simply rotten, wrong judgment. An ignorant blogger put such failed logic most simply, “If they have the freedom to build it there, they should.” Why should educated Americans be so emotionally incompetent in their knee-jerk group-think to fail to see what major Muslim thinkers around the world have concluded on the legal but dangerous, wrong site selection proposed for the 2,000 worshiper Ground Zero Mosque and huge community center? [Their comments cataloged in the August 25 NY Times and Wikipedia]. Even the clear distinction between legal rights and actual judgments to build spelled out by President Obama have not helped many NY Times and Tikkun readers to avoid the temptation to label negative judgment as bigotry and violations of the Bill of Rights!
As examples of Muslim distress over Park51: Authors Raheel Raza and Tarek Fatah, board members of the Muslim Canadian Congress, said: New York currently boasts at least 30 mosques so it’s not as if there is pressing need to find space for worshipers. We Muslims know the … mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation, to thumb our noses at the infidel. The proposal has been made in bad faith, … as “Fitna,” meaning “mischief-making” that is clearly forbidden in the Koran…. As Muslims we are dismayed that our co-religionists have such little consideration for their fellow citizens, and wish to rub salt in their wounds and pretend they are applying a balm to sooth the pain
One more detail error in other comments: The Park51 location is not out of the 9-11 destruction site. The building purchased for the Mosque/Center, the Burlington Coat Company Factory building, has only been available as it was severely damaged by a major portion of one of the 9-11 airliners. Of course that just adds to the extremist Muslims view for their triumphal symbolic significance of the proposed Park51 and well as gives-away-the-store to the extremist Republicans, Beck et al, who will use the such liberal failure in judgment to take over our government in the election of Congress just a few weeks away.
I have written more on this in other articles as well as more appropriate building proposals for the 9-11 site that could directly promote constructive terrorist prevention and international/interfaith reconciliation around the world. Simply put, civilization may not survive nuclear etc terrorism in the next few decades if we fail to focus the use of trillions [the scale of energy spent on our current obscene wars] to build a world without grinding poverty and less hate.
Hello Bob,
You are absolutely correct in making the distinction between legal rights and wisdom/judgment. I agree, sometimes a decision can be legally acceptable, but morally questionable. However, in my view, this issue isn’t about how a Canadian Muslim views the motives of Imam Rauf or any other American organizer of the mosque/community center. The basis of my argument is this: Al-Qaeda, a foreign terrorist group who bombed us on 9/11 has nothing to do with the millions of peaceful Muslim Americans living in our country.
You’re assertion that proponents of the mosque adhere to a myopic view of morality is based upon the assumption that Muslim Americans will view this in a “triumphant” manner and only causing “mischief” (a claim made by a Canadian, not an American). This issue is strictly an American one, and since Americans are innocent until proven guilty, then until I hear a Muslim American group say they support 9/11 and they are all for Al-Qaeda, I can’t possibly condemn a community for crimes others prepretrated in the name of their religion.
Nobody I know, and I know many Muslims, feel “triumphant” over the mosque since they are on our side, not Al-Qaeda’s. After all, they live in this country. And it’s doubtful even Al-Qaeda would feel this way since their primary objective is to prove that Americans are at war with Islam. The Muslim Americans I know just want to be treated the way all other people are treated in this country, with respect and without suspicion. If a couple here and there have extreme political views, well, we can always find the extreme in every ethnic group. The overall community, however, has proven to be just as productive, patriotic, and peaceful as all other communities. Thus, I don’t view a mosque near Ground Zero, a site that I do indeed feel as hallowed ground, to be a threat.
I seems as if the separation between anti mosque and pro mosque are divided as divided gets now. The rhetoric on Pam Gellers site seems to be harsher and more angry by the day, while Muslims concerned for their rights to build where they are permitted by law and zoning ordinances are being shouted out of their rights and asked to build further from where sentiments seem cemented against this project.
What remains to be seen is the result of social order effects on those opposed should the project go forward, Psyches would be damaged, seemingly defeated as the Mosque grows and builds it’s community , say opposition leaders.
When we are disappointed because we dont get our way and are denied the celebration inherent in
such victory, hard fought in press and blogs, we can become angry jaded and or seriously bigoted as our cause is defeated by the other side. Competition makes for resentment once issue are decided and such an outcome with many hearts and minds on the line is an important hallmark in human history.
With so many souls happiness on the line two sides have squared off with liberals and conservatives arrayed in concert against the the same diverse elements arrayed for so we are in need of some consultation for our loss should our side fail or for our way forward should we win. The way forward should no Mosque be built may be to set the border line for any Mosque further afield of Manhattan than just a few blocks away, which weakens the concept of fairness and freedom of religion in the USA, perhaps even for other religions should they attempt to build in Manhattan.This result would erode the law and regard public resentment based in historical enmity more than satisfaction of the legal requirements to build such a center near ground zero..
My question for those opposed is this; Do you feel justified in brokering a loss of constitutional rights for all peoples in America should they feel ostracized or threatened with challenges to their way of life and worship? If the rights to build for all religions become respective to emotional reactionaries in the neighborhoods surrounding such projects, will American religious freedom be less or more empowered going forward?
If we cave in to emotional fears of others so close to our personal pain and remembrance of dear brothers and sisters, are we being brave, strong and tolerant, or weak, self centered and inclined toward selfish ostracism of others from our neighborhoods and lives?
Getting out of our own comfort zones as regard ethnicity, religion and culture, regards others as wonderfully new and exiting, adding to our experience, inspiration and ability to learn new ways and means of living as a human family. We show our love by showing our interest in new ideas and sharing what we hold dear as our own respect for past inspirations and values, adding this shared learning to what we built thus far in our lives is progressive and leads to newness of life in our souls, where we see goodness and honor it or see evil and correct it’s errancies. To see a brother or sisters religion as evil is foolishness that no neighbor can exibit without some fall out or blow back to their own happiness, for when we deny others their space to grow, we show them our insecurity as a group and also as individuals, we are frightened of newness is what this says.
New things are just new, not evil. Muslims are as any other people, strange to outsiders until we meet and greet share and care and grow together as a family with our own lives inured to our certain principles and style of life we show what we have to offer in three dimensions and learn in 3 dimensions as we bare witness to others differences, maybe embracing one aspect of what we perceive to be better than what we had and offering one aspect of ourselves and group of worthy of inspection and acceptance by others.
I realize that orthodoxy is important to many religious adherents of all faiths and should this penchant for stolid and sure adherence to strict dogma be our way of life, we are the ones who need to be aloof, aside and apart, not others.
My take on the concept of the Mosque in question is openness, sharing and caring for all who enter there, which may seem foreign to some, but to me, I know this is the Islam that I adore, maybe imperfect as all religion is, but able to care about others feelings enough to understand their desire to share their faith and grow with the human family into friends who share and care not tempted to tear and spit at one another heart and soul, but to show some respect as we feel we ought to be shown.