THE MOSQUE AT GROUND ZERO
Sometimes, it’s not what people ask for, it’s how they ask for it.
Like the mosque at Ground Zero.
On paper, there’s no reason it shouldn’t happen. They own the land, it meets zoning requirements, they have the money, it’ll be a useful facility.
Most people won’t admit that, but I will.
In a land where private property rights should count for something, you have to respect the property rights of the Muslim group.
You’re familiar with this story, right? A bunch of Muslim associations have come together to take a property about 2 blocks from where the World Trade Center stood and turn it into a multi-story Islamic center.
There will be a gym and a pool and offices and meetings rooms and a mosque. It will be an all-purpose, all-day kind of place, but it will also definitely be a place of Muslim worship and preaching.
And that rubs some people the wrong way.
Because the twin towers were felled by Muslim worship and preaching.
It was Islamic zealotry that attacked the United States and killed some 3,000 people on 9-11. Within earshot of the new Islamic center, countless innocent people screamed, leapt and died.
Many consider this inappropriate.
They see it as disrespectful.
They see it as Muslims thumbing their nose at American sensitivities by building so close to ground that must be considered sacred.
The uproar has echoed across the nation. Upset in New York City itself has been significant.
Local government panels have given approval at every step, and the project is likely to go forward, and I can think of no legal reason why it shouldn’t, but the discussion has taken a troubling turn.
Not because of the uproar of the protesters, but because of the deafness of the Muslims.
It may be completely legal to build the Islamic center in this location, but it is also incredibly insensitive. A group that is demanding its rights be respected seems to have no capacity for or interest in respecting the rights or feelings of others.
There is a spirit of entitlement and superiority in this request. The Muslim supporters of this project seem supremely self-centered, as if their interests alone are of significance.
Think about it.
They propose the project. It sparks immediate controversy. It visibly upsets people. It is opposed and denounced by not thousands, but millions of people.
And the response is to see that upset as some sort of bigotry. As opposed to a legitimate feeling that ought to be considered and maybe respected, it has been dismissed.
Whereas polite people might, upon seeing the upset their proposal was causing, rethink the idea or look for a more acceptable location, the Muslims behind the Islamic center have pressed forward self-righteously.
But maybe they’re not victims, maybe they’re jerks.
Maybe coming into the largest city in a country, and putting up your place right next to a sacred location, where upset is unavoidable, maybe that’s meant to be intentionally provocative.
Maybe this whole project is meant to be a thumb in the American eye, or is analogous to a dog peeing on a tree.
There are dozens of locations in that portion of New York City where this Islamic center could be built. If you expand out, there are hundreds of additional locations elsewhere in New York City. Any one of those would avoid this upset and offense.
But the Muslims don’t want one of those.
They want this one.
And that is rude. It is self-centered.
And America fears it is a sign of things to come, as the cultural arrogance of Islam comes to the United States as it has to Europe and elsewhere.
The stubborn insistence on this site is all the more galling when you consider that in most Muslim countries, Christian or Jewish buildings of any sort are illegal. Can you imagine what would happen if a group of Christians or Jews announced plans to build a temple or place of worship in Mecca or Medina?
Legally, there is nothing wrong with this project. Morally, it’s a rude and thoughtless thing to do.
As Muslim groups across the country push for greater acceptance, insisting they are just like any other Americans, the PR line gets hard to swallow when stuff like this goes on. This is not how friends treat each other. This is not how someone acts who claims to be a good neighbor.
In Christianity, we believe in treating others as we would want others to treat us. That clearly is not a Muslim virtue, at least not as demonstrated by this situation. This is a small minority insisting that its interests by forced on the larger society, this is the foot stomping of a spoiled child.
The morally right thing would be for the backers of this Islamic center to acknowledge that this location is too sensitive, and that out of respect for the feelings of their neighbors they are going to move it.
That would build trust and friendship.
What’s occurring is doing just the opposite.
In this situation, the backers of this center are not being victims, they are being jerks.
And it’s too bad they are too dumb or too uncaring to see that.
- by Bob Lonsberry © 2010
