Editorial - Op Ed

Sunday September 5, 2010

As i watch the media coverage of the proposed construction of the mosque two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center, I continue to be appalled and saddened by the rhetoric not only from intelligent people but people of faith (non-Moslem). Catholics and Jews need not look far back in history to the days when neither were welcomed on the shores of this ‘free’ nation. Moreover, Catholics need to be reminded of the shameful history of many of our ancestors ‘in the faith’—the Inquisition and the Crusades to say nothing of the reign of popes during the era of the Papal States. In the shameful absence of any words from the hierarchy, I offer the following guest editorials for another perspective:

Let’s start with this rather powerful commentary: Click >
There is no ‘Ground Zero Mosque.’.

... and now read on…

Published on Commonweal magazine (http://commonwealmagazine.org)

Groundless
Created 08/23/2010 – 2:45pm
The Editors

In the past nine years, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, have been invoked, distorted, and exploited to serve a variety of political and ideological agendas. But no such effort has been quite as shameful as the current campaign against the so-called Ground Zero Mosque.

The following editorial will appear in the September 10, 2010, issue.

In the past nine years, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, have been invoked, distorted, and exploited to serve a variety of political and ideological agendas. But no such effort has been quite as shameful as the current campaign against the so-called Ground Zero Mosque.

“Ground Zero,” for better or worse, is the widely accepted term of reference for the site where the Twin Towers once stood, and discussions about the fate of that site since 9/11 have been protracted and painful. The families of those who died there differed about what should be built. A skyscraper called One World Trade Center is finally under construction, as well as a museum and a memorial, but the debate continues, along with bitter complaints about the slow progress.

Two blocks away, a group of New Yorkers is at the center of another painful debate, this one over the terms on which American Muslims should be permitted to participate in civic life. They propose to build, on the site of a now-abandoned building, an Islamic community center dedicated to promoting diversity, dialogue, and service. The project’s leader, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, is a moderate Sufi, long established in Lower Manhattan, who was called on by the Bush administration to assist with outreach to Muslims overseas. The community center, to be called Park51, would house a mosque, an interfaith program, fitness facilities, a restaurant, and a memorial to the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

The controversy over Park51 was manufactured by opportunists on the Right stoking outrage against what they describe as a “victory mosque” to be built “at Ground Zero” by radical Muslims intent on commemorating their “triumph.” Politicians and pundits from Sarah Palin to Newt Gingrich to Charles Krauthammer have sought to exploit anti-Muslim sentiment, as well as the pain of the 9/11 victims’ families, and have suggested that Islam itself is at war with America. Their opposition to Park51, which polls indicate is now shared by a majority of Americans, is implicitly based on the notion that all Muslims share in the guilt for the 9/11 attacks. It is an overt appeal to religious bigotry, one that both victimizes Muslims at home and makes it more difficult for ambassadors from the United States to the Muslim world, including Imam Rauf, to win cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

Catholics have been on both sides of religious prejudice in the past. President Barack Obama alluded to past persecution of American Catholics in his August 13 remarks defending religious freedom, and New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg recalled that Catholics were once prohibited from practicing their faith in Lower Manhattan. “We would betray our values and play into our enemies’ hands if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else,” Bloomberg said in an address defending Park51. “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.”

Although he praised Bloomberg’s remarks, New York’s Archbishop Timothy Dolan passed up the opportunity to take an unequivocal stand. Instead, the archbishop offered tentative support for a “compromise” that would relocate Park51. But calls for the Muslim organizers to change their plans out of “sensitivity,” however well-meaning, would allow the prejudices of some to define the terms of freedom for others. It would set a dangerous precedent to allow the cynicism of those who launched this campaign to prevail over the facts.

Muslims were among those who died in the September 11 attacks. They were among the emergency personnel who responded to the disaster and the workers who sorted through the wreckage at Ground Zero. Muslim Americans, like all other Americans, responded to 9/11 in anger and fear, prayed for peace, grieved the loss of loved ones, and enlisted in the armed forces to fight terrorism. Any version of what happened that day that excludes their presence among the victims is inaccurate. Any argument that places all American Muslims outside the definition of “American” or fails to distinguish between ordinary Muslims and terrorists must be rejected.

Asking Imam Rauf and his community to retreat in the face of a deficient understanding of Islam is unreasonable and deeply harmful to attempts to combat Islamist terrorism at home and abroad. It is also a betrayal of the church’s call to rise above prejudice in relations with other faiths. American Catholics should be standing against the opposition to Park51 and all other manifestations of anti-Muslim prejudice. The bishops should be leading the way.

From the dotCommonweal blog: Fact Check from the AP and
John Paul II & the “Ground Zero Mosque”

And from the web cirucuit:

Obama & the Muslim World

A recent poll taken by the Pew Research Center on Religion in Public Life shows that approximately one-fifth of Americans think that their president is a Muslim, this despite the fact that he was baptized into, as well as married in, the Christian faith in Chicago while he was working closely with Christian pastors of various denominations as a community organizer and continues to consult closely and often pray for guidance with several ordained Christian clergymen.

No doubt his unusual name raises suspicions. Yet “Barack,” from the Hebrew “barakah” — meaning “blessing,” was also the name of the Old Testament prophet Baruch — so on that account is our president really Jewish? “Hussein” (meaning “handsome” in Arabic), was the name of one of Mohammed’s grandsons, as well as the name of the late king of Jordan, who claimed to be a direct descendant of Mohammed and who, along with his American wife, were among our best friends in the Middle East. But it was unfortunately also the last name of the Iraqi dictator who turned on us after we helped install him in power and backed him in his failed war against Iran. As for the president’s family name, “Obama,” that is purely African, from Kenya where his grandfather became a Muslim, yet his father became an agnostic quite early in life. His mother, of mostly Protestant Irish-American background also became an agnostic. So much for our president’s supposed Muslim identity.

Still, given all this prejudice against him, why did the president almost go out of his way to raise suspicions by his defense of some American Muslims who want to rebuild (it has already been there for some time in an older building) an Islamic cultural center only a few of the few blocks away from the side of the World Trade Center that was destroyed by Muslim extremists on 9/11? Granted that he is perfectly right on constitutional grounds. But why venture into such a sensitive subject? — something that reminds us of the furor raised by many Jews a few years ago when Catholic Carmelite nuns in Poland tried to build a new convent next to the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp where a member of their order (Edith Stein, who vowed to share her fate with the people of her own origin and is now honored as a saint) also died. Yet, in much the same way, we ignore the fact that about three hundred Muslims were also victims of the 9/11 attacks.

Granted that the president is an idealist whose ideals sometimes clash with harsh realities. But the reality today is that a large part of the Muslim world believes that America is out to destroy Islam. Yet, as mistaken as that belief might be, the prevention of these particularly peace-loving Sufi Muslims (who have also been targeted in Pakistan and elsewhere by Islamic fundamentalists) from building their center, which — a lot like YMCA buildings contain a chapel — will include a room that will serve as a mosque, only confirms this mistaken belief in the minds of many Muslims who, we should note, make up about a fifth of the world’s population. In contrast, can we Americans, who make up only a 20th of the world’s population, afford to make even more enemies of those who belong to what our former president, George W. Bush, called “one of the world’s great religions” and who were once our friends?

The name of the proposed building — “The Cordoba Center” — is especially evocative. Cordoba was one of those cities in Spain was where Muslims, Jews, and Christians once lived in proximity to each other and got along just fine. In fact, during that period, Christian culture in Europe made great strides in philosophy, theology, and science, due to the fact that the Muslims had preserved the intellectual riches of ancient Greece and were anxious to share them with the rest of the world. Unfortunately that happy period of cooperation came to an abrupt halt when the “Catholic Monarchs” Ferdinand and Isabella took complete control of Spain and 1492 and immediately began requiring Jews and Muslims to convert to Christianity or else leave.

Is this the kind of country we want America to become? — one where citizens who happen to be of a different religion are shunned, or prevented from building houses of worship, or are accused of disloyalty simply out because of their ancestry or traditions? I hardly think so. Yet, in view of the amount of misinformation, anger, and in some instances, outright bigotry being displayed by a large portion of the American public at this moment, it seems that is where, at least for the moment, we are unfortunately headed.

R W Kropf 8/24/2010Obama & the Muslim World.doc

And from the Washington Post:

By Eugene Robinson
Tuesday, August 24, 2010

When did the loudmouths of the American right become such a bunch of fraidy-cats and professional victims? Or is it all just an act?

The hysteria over plans for an innocuous Muslim community center in Lower Manhattan—two blocks from Ground Zero, amid an urban hodgepodge of office buildings, eateries and strip clubs—is wildly out of proportion. It would be laughable if it didn’t threaten to do great harm to the global campaign against Islamic terrorism.

It is by now firmly established that the project, dubbed Park51, is promoted by a peacenik Muslim cleric whose sermons often sound a bit like the musings of new-age guru Deepak Chopra. It is also undisputed fact that the imam in question, Feisal Abdul Rauf, is such a moderate that the U.S. government regularly sends him as an emissary to Muslim countries to preach peace, coexistence and dialogue.

Yet right-wing commentators and politicians have twisted themselves in knots to portray the Park51 project as a grievous assault—and “the American people” as victims. Victims of what? Rauf’s sinister plot to despoil the city with a fitness center, a swimming pool and—shudder—a space for the performing arts?

The whole “controversy” is ridiculous. Yet conservatives who should know better are doing their best to exploit widespread ignorance about Islam by transforming it into fear and anger. They imply, but don’t come right out and say, that it was Islam itself that attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, rather than an extremist fringe that espouses what the vast majority of the world’s Muslims consider a perversion of the faith. They paint Park51 as a “victory dance” over the hallowed ground where thousands of Americans died—never mind that there wouldn’t even be a sight line between the building and Ground Zero—and suggest that the project, even though it would be run by an imam who’s practically a flower child, could somehow serve as a recruiting center for terrorists.

Message to anyone who will listen: You’re a victim. Be very afraid.
In the process, this anti-mosque pitchfork brigade is surely recruiting terrorists left and right. As Ahmad Moussalli, a professor at the American University of Beirut, told the Los Angeles Times: “Rejecting this has become like rejecting Islam itself.” All the Islamophobic rhetoric tends to reinforce the jihadists’ main argument, which is that the United States and the West seek to destroy the faith held dear by more than 1 billion souls.

The thing is, though, that the manufactured brouhaha over the Park51 project is part of a larger pattern in which the far right embraces victimhood and stokes fear. The faction that likes to portray itself as a bunch of John Waynes and “mama grizzlies,” it turns out, spends an awful lot of time cowering in the corner and complaining about how beastly everyone else is being.

Witness the frequent eruptions over instances of reverse racism—real or imagined. The Shirley Sherrod affair was the most recent example of how eagerly the far right wants to sell the false narrative that African Americans, once they achieve positions of authority, will use their newly acquired power to punish whites for historical discrimination. The facts of the Sherrod case, as they finally emerged, argue persuasively against this fictional tale of longed-for revenge. But it will be back.

And look at the hysteria over illegal immigration. Facts don’t matter—for example, that the flow of undocumented migrants has decreased, or that border enforcement under President Obama is much tougher than under George W. Bush, or that illegal immigrants are not responsible for any kind of crime wave. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), has gone so far as to sound the alarm about alleged “terror babies.” The idea is that undocumented pregnant women would cross the border so that their children could have U.S. citizenship, then take the babies away to be raised as terrorists—who would be able to come back in 20 years or so, with legitimate U.S. passports, and presumably wreak untold havoc. No, I did not make that up.

Is the far right really afraid of its own shadow? Do these people really have so little faith in our nation’s strength, resilience and values? I hope this is all just cynical political calculation, because there are genuine threats and challenges out there. We’ll be better off meeting them with a spine, not a whine.

© 2010 The Washington Post Company
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And from the Franciscan Friars’
Newsletter of the Holy Name Province

Seasonal Reflection: Religious Freedom
by Brian Jordan, OFM

After standing alongside New York City’s mayor last month, when Michael Bloomberg defended the right of Muslims to build a cultural center near the World Trade Center site, a friar and Brooklyn native submitted an essay to the HNP Communications Office describing the significance and emotion of the day. Brian Jordan, OFM, past chaplain at Ground Zero, called the Aug. 3 event a “shining moment in the history of our nation” in this essay that he titled “Why I Support the Muslim Cultural Center Near the World Trade Center: Why I Stood by Mayor Bloomberg and What Occurred on Governor’s Island.” He describes the mayor’s speech in defense of religious liberty as unprecedented by an elected official in New York City history.

On early afternoon of Mon. Aug. 2, I received a phone call from Francis Barry, senior speechwriter for Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He asked me to attend a press conference the next day on Governor’s Island facing the Statue of Liberty. Those attending would be the mayor, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and a host of religious leaders from varying faith traditions throughout the city.

The purpose of the press conference was to support the proposed cultural center, which would contain a mosque near the World Trade Center. I immediately agreed to participate but I had no idea who would be there or what I would be asked to say. In fact, it was the first time I was ever asked to say nothing to anyone about a press conference until it actually occurred and I agreed to this confidentiality. What was to occur will be known as a shining moment in the history of our nation.

The press conference was scheduled after the New York City Landmark Preservation Committee was to vote either to give or not to give landmark status to 45-43 Park Place. Some asserted that this particular building may have been partially damaged by the collapse of the Twin Towers. This may give the building peripheral landmark status. But that morning, the commission, in a 9-0 decision, voted down landmark status. It is no coincidence that all of the members of the Landmark Preservation Committee were appointed by Mayor Bloomberg.

The 10 selected religious leaders all gathered at City Hall by 11 a.m. sharp in anticipation of the noon press conference on Governor’s Island. Some of the leaders I had met at past interfaith events. For others, it was the first time we met. When we entered the huge van to bring us to the ferry to Governor’s Island, we began exchanging niceties. But then we started talking to each other on a visceral level.

Forging Relationships
One rabbi, who was seated next to the Imam from the Islamic Cultural Center in Manhattan, asked me why I was the only Roman Catholic participant since there were four members of the Jewish faith present. I replied I was not sure why the mayor’s office had selected me. Perhaps, I inferred, it was due to my being a chaplain for 10 straight months at Ground Zero and because I am a Franciscan priest. I said that the Franciscans have been serving in the Holy Land since 1342. While administering the sacred shrines, the Franciscans have also forged important relationships with both Jewish and Muslim clergy as a means of interfaith dialogue and mutual respect.

I also reminded them that the birthplace of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy, had been the meeting place of world religious leaders on three separate occasions. At the invitation of Pope John Paul II, world religious leaders met in 1986, in light of the nuclear threat in the world; in 1993, in response to ethnic violence in Kosovo and other parts of Eastern Europe; and again in 2002, in direct response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In 2002, the leaders of the world’s religions agreed in the Decalogue of the Peace of Assisi that religion should never be a means of violence.

Although the mayor appointed all nine members of the Landmark Preservation Committee and his office selected all 10 religious leaders to the Aug. 3 press conference — let me point out one fact. We were not bought off by the mayor’s money! One of the members of the Commission pointed out correctly that the building in question did not deserve landmark status because of falling debris from another building. As he asserted with professional confidence and acerbic wit, “You cannot landmark the sky!” Such a profound statement!

While we were in the van, Fr. Alexander Karloustos of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese posed a thoughtful question, “Do we not agree that we will support this cultural center in its present location on the condition that funding for this center does not come from countries that refuse to build churches and synagogues?” We all immediately agreed to this principle and I asked Father Alexander that if this question came up during the press conference he reiterate this point and that he would speak on behalf of all 10 participating religious leaders. He agreed to this but unfortunately he was not given the opportunity to present this important admonition.

Repeatedly, the mayor stated that the source of the funding for a religious shrine was not the business of government. However, as interfaith religious leaders, we were adamant that funding never come from countries that were hostile to faith traditions other than Islam. Imam Shamsi of the Islamic Cultural Center clearly maintained that Saudi Arabia would never donate money to Imam Feisal Rauf because the Imam is Sufi Muslim while the overwhelming majority of Saudis practices Wahhabi Islam. They do not appear to get on with each other.

The Imam went on to point out that there are major differences among the billion plus Muslims throughout the world. We asked that Imam Feisal Rauf and other moderate Muslims make those Muslim religious categories public since most Americans, including most New Yorkers, are unfamiliar with them. Education is the best way to deal with discrimination.

Defending Rights on Governor’s Island
When we arrived at Governor’s Island, the 10 religious leaders and the mayor’s delegation together with Speaker Christine Quinn were escorted by special vans to the site facing the Statue of Liberty. Along the way, I was seated next to the mayor and Speaker Quinn. We joked about various topics from sports to religious affiliations. However, I noticed the mayor glancing down at the speech he was about to deliver. His demeanor evoked a nervous energy I had not seen before.

I have known the mayor for eight years through various gatherings and media events in the city of New York. I sensed that he was about to separate himself from his usual bland, businesslike personality for another level of expression. Indeed, his speech in defense of religious liberty was unprecedented in New York City history by an elected official. A Jewish American defending the rights of Muslim Americans! It was great. It was beautiful. It was America at its best!

While standing directly behind the mayor, I was mesmerized by his words and emotional delivery. I said to myself “How can a longtime policy and numbers nerd speak with such confidence and inspiration? Is this the same man who struggled in his transition from the private sector to be a public official?” He spoke of the discrimination and turmoil of Jews, Quakers and Catholics. He challenged New York as well as America not to repeat history by opposing moderate Muslims who want to build a cultural center that promises interfaith dialogue and respect.

I also noticed that the entire cadre of reporters and photographers facing the mayor were glued to every word he spoke. They saw the emotion on his face as they heard the emotion and eloquence in his voice. It was Mayor Michael Rubens Bloomberg’s finest moment as the 108th mayor of the City of New York. I was proud to be there not only as a native New Yorker but also as the lone representative of the Roman Catholic Church. It was indeed history in the making and I predict that this speech will be included in American history as one of the finest defenses of religious freedom in 21st century America.

After Speaker Christine Quinn spoke, I was asked to be the first speaker of the 10 religious leaders. I spoke candidly and passionately as a chaplain at Ground Zero who lost many friends including my mentor, Mychal Judge, OFM. As a Franciscan, I also defended the rights of a cultural center that includes a mosque. Two rabbis, the Imam and an African-American Protestant minister also spoke on behalf of the right to build a Muslim cultural center near the World Trade Center. All of us also acknowledged the feelings and the concerns of those family members who lost loved ones on 9/11 and those who served at 9/11 whether as uniformed personnel, construction workers or volunteers. Their viewpoints are both cherished and respected. I also pointed out in my testimonial that “Islam did not bring down those towers, it was fanaticism.” Please blame the fanatics, not Islam itself.

After the Q and A, we returned to our vans to go back by ferry to Lower Manhattan. On the ferry, I spoke to Imam Shamsi of the Islamic Cultural Center on the Upper East Side. I told him I appreciated his words and I asked him if there were such things as mission statements for each mosque and/or cultural center. He replied that there are no general templates for all mosques but each one has an official agreement as to a shared direction toward common goals.

I suggested that perhaps the cause for the cultural center near the World Trade Center might be better served if an official agreement were signed beforehand, that all prospective imams of this proposed cultural center continue to practice interfaith dialogue, respect and harmony in the future. This would give greater assurance to all New Yorkers that they practice what they preach. Imam Shamsi emphatically agreed to that religious polity suggestion.

Concluding Thoughts on Historical Context
A few days later, on Aug. 6, the world as well as America became fully aware of the impact of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s finest moment as the mayor of New York City. My father and I attended the ceremony highlighting the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima that ushered in the nuclear age.

My father served in the South Pacific on the USS Curtiss near Saipan that fateful day. He saw the aircraft, the Enola Gay, fly its incendiary mission to Hiroshima as the captain of the USS Curtiss announced on the PA system to the sailors, “Men, you are about to see history.” Indeed, my father witnessed the beginning of the nuclear age. I believe I also witnessed history on Aug. 3, 2010 on Governor’s Island at an interfaith press conference when Mayor Michael Bloomberg initiated a new beginning of religious tolerance in our great nation. Amen! So be it!

Interestingly, on Sept. 25, 1789, by a 2/3 vote of both Houses of Congress in session in New York City at Federal Hall, 26 Wall Street, present day intersection of Wall and Broad Streets, less than a mile from the proposed Cultural Center with Mosque at Park 51, the Congress proposed Articles to the Legislature of the States as Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. Among them was the freedom of religion!

— Fr. Brian, a resident of Holy Name of Jesus Friary on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, is chaplain of the Building and Construction Trades Council in New York City. The photo above appeared in both The New York Times and New York Post (Aug. 4) and Newsweek magazine (Aug. 16, 2010).

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