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Build
It
Somebody
asked me why I hadn’t written a column about the proposed
mosque and interfaith center to be built in lower Manhattan.
The question struck me because, though I’ve had vigorous discussions
with family and friends, I inevitably end up feeling deeply
discouraged about the issue.
That a proposed house of worship and an interfaith community
center has unleashed such vitriol among conservatives is astonishing.
That it has become a campaign issue is an insult, I believe,
to the very families who lost loved ones on 9/11. That there
was an effort to stop the construction of a mosque in Temecula,
Calif., is mind-boggling.
And amidst all this controversy it isn’t clear to me whether
the opposition to the building of the mosque near (but not
on) the World Trade Center site is truly driven by family
members grieving their terrible, terrible losses or a political
agenda that seems increasingly xenophobic and willing to exploit
the events of 9/11 for political gain. I suspect it is driven
by the latter.
I haven’t yet heard any more profound words spoken on the
subject than those of Mayor Michael Bloomberg early in August
on Governor’s Island. There he reminded us that though we
have a Constitution that guarantees the freedom to practice
one’s chosen religion, this wasn’t always the case. He said:
“In
the mid-1650s, the small Jewish community living in lower
Manhattan petitioned Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant for the
right to build a synagogue, and they were turned down. In
1657, when Stuyvesant also prohibited Quakers from holding
meetings, a group of non-Quakers in Queens signed the Flushing
Remonstrance, a petition in defense of the right of Quakers
and others to freely practice their religion. It was perhaps
the first formal political petition for religious freedom
in the American colonies, and the organizer was thrown in
jail and then banished from New Amsterdam.”
“In
the 1700s, even as religious freedom took hold in America,
Catholics in New York were effectively prohibited from practicing
their religion, and priests could be arrested. Largely as
a result, the first Catholic parish in New York City was not
established until the 1780s, St. Peter’s on Barclay Street.”
He then went on to say:
“On
Sept. 11, 2001, thousands of first responders heroically rushed
to the scene and saved tens of thousands of lives. More than
400 of those first responders did not make it out alive. In
rushing into those burning buildings, not one of them asked,
‘What God do you pray to?’ ‘What beliefs do you hold?’
The attack was an act of war, and our first responders defended
not only our city, but our country and our constitution. We
do not honor their lives by denying the very constitutional
rights they died protecting. We honor their lives by defending
those rights and the freedoms that the terrorists attacked.”
Also, it is critical to remember that those who cite Christianity
as a religion of peace have forgotten their history. The Crusades
were ruthless, bloody, usually fruitless campaigns financed
by the church and fought in the name of Christianity. Deus
Vult!—God wills it—was the crusaders’ battle cry. But in reality
these invasions were more about violence, theft and conquest
than doctrine.
And though most of the Crusades targeted Muslim lands, in
some instances they also pitted Christian against Christian:
during the Fourth Crusade, Constantinople was brutally invaded
and sacked, ensuring the schism between the church in the
East and West. During the Cathar Crusade, called by Pope Innocent
III, bloodthirsty invaders vanquished the southwestern France
strongholds of the Cathars—whose dualistic faith rejected
all forms of violence.
And it isn’t as if the history of Christianity has been pristine
ever since the Middle Ages, a fact which I believe would horrify
Jesus, as well as the authors of the Greek scriptures.
But from the earliest years of United States history, the
founders sought to ensure that such actions would not be done
in the name of any religion and that no one religion be held
in higher regard than another. That’s part of what made and
still makes the United States a different country, a far more
desirable country from those countries in which personal liberties
are scarce. Mayor Bloomberg’s wise and cogent words need to
be heard:
“The
World Trade Center Site will forever hold a special place
in our City, in our hearts. But we would be untrue to the
best part of ourselves, and who we are as New Yorkers and
Americans, if we said “no” to a mosque in Lower Manhattan.
Political controversies come and go, but our values and our
traditions endure—and there is no neighborhood in this City
that is off limits to God’s love and mercy.”
—Jo
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