To Show Our Strength

Cross posted from the Th!nk3 blog here

Last night on the Daily Show, John Stewart reported an excellent piece on the controversy surrounding a proposed Islamic cultural center near the former site of the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City (to see the report, click here). To be clear, the plans are for a cultural center, not a mosque, and it is not actually on the site of the former WTC, but a few blocks away in an abandoned department store. Yet opponents are still fighting back fervently, some of the most extreme opposition coming in the form of banners on buses in New York depicting a plane about to crash into a flaming WTC tower and posing the question, "Why there?"

If this were a nation that upheld freedom of religion as defined by the First Amendment to the Constitution to the full extent of the law, this would be a non-issue - people may not like it, but the cultural center would be established nonetheless. Instead, Islamic cultural centers and mosques face opposition all across the country, from New York to California. For a country that claims to value freedom so highly, I am thoroughly embarassed that an elected public official would insinuate that Islam is "a cult" and should be persecuted as such (I believe that even cults, however you define the word, deserve respect and space, unless they perpetrate crimes such as forced childhood incest).

To not allow this cultural center to be built shows our weakness to the world. It shows that we, the American people, are weak enough to give in to bigotry and ignorance, to assume that all 1.4 billion Muslims in the world are extremists, and to not stand up for equality in the face of the extremists who oppose this place of diversity and learning. On the other hand, allowing it to be built shows the exact opposite - that we are strong enough to embrace diversity, to reconcile with a faith that has for years been persecuted and discriminated against within our own borders, and to recognize what our real enemies are in the War on Terror - fear, ignorance, and hatred.

I would propose that we allow these plans to proceed at an even higher degree. How would the world react if we allowed a mosque, a place dedicated solely to Islamic worship, to be built not near, but on Ground Zero, where the two towers once stood? It would be our olive branch to the Islamic community, a true sign that we want to make peace with the world, and a show of strength and unity in the face of violence and terror. My ideal plans along these lines would be a Christian church, a Jewish synagogue, and an Islamic mosque all sharing the former WTC space together (not to exclude other religions, but I believe these three send the most powerful message) with a memorial to 9/11 in the center. The dedication would read something like:

'To those who bring us fear, we respond with courage
To those who bring us division, we respond with unity
And to those who bring us violence, we respond with peace.'