EXCERPT:
The "mosque battle" has gone on long enough to become instructive for those of us who care about both the Christian faith and the United States. Observing the salvos firing back and forth, I am now convinced that most of the controversy is a diversion, a smokescreen to camouflage what is really at stake: the compatibility of American patriotism with the Gospels.
This camouflage includes several layers, some easier to penetrate than others.
Calls for public officials to "stop" construction of the Islamic Community Center in Manhattan have fallen largely on deaf ears, simply because officials (from the President down to New York's Mayor) recognize one simple fact: the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the property owners a perfect right to include a house of worship in their building plans. Their legal rights are identical to those of any Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish group -- and the site of the 9/11 attacks has no relevance whatsoever.
The smoke gets somewhat thicker when debate shifts from "rights" to "feelings": shouldn't the builders' show respect for the feelings of the 9/11 families--victims, relatives, first responder is, traumatize new Yorkers? It is an attractive argument, appealing to American heart strings. But the facts don't support it: many of those affected have already gone public in support of the project, saying their loved ones were sacrificed in the name of the very liberties being exercised by the Islamic Center planners. Others feel differently, of course -- but that just means there is no unanimity of "feelings" among those affected. And that means that demanding to accommodate everyone’s “feelings” is an impossible, even silly, requirement.
Next comes the argument about violating "sacred space." This has great emotional appeal, given how the 9/11 attacks galvanized patriotic feelings (in this, comparisons to Pearl Harbor were not amiss). But emotions are easily to manipulate, as they certainly have been here. The debate itself has been labeled (on all sides and by the media) as the "Ground Zero Mosque" controversy. No doubt this pushes the buttons of many people of people's patriotic feelings -- but it does not fit the facts. The proposed building includes a house of worship but will not have a dome, a minaret, or other features of a full-service mosque. And it will not be located on Ground Zero. It is close, yes -- two blocks away -- but so are many other houses of worship. Any attempt to arbitrarily extend "Ground Zero" by exactly two blocks (no more, no less) is pure emotional manipulation of the facts. It is both emotionally and intellectually dishonest.
Finally, some question the prudence of the planners building (or of others tolerating) a project symbolic of Islam's rise in America, as if it acknowledges 9/11 as an Islamic triumph. Here the smoke finally lifts to reveal the real point in dispute: Islam in America.
For the fact is that the "Ground Zero Mosque" is not alone as the target of protests. There has already been public opposition to a mosque in Tennessee, for example, and before that to a mosque in Boston, and now there are protests about U.S. government funding for restoring historic mosques in Arab countries. The rhetoric in all these cases is so similar (the project offend others, it flout Islam's rise, it relies on suspect funding, the builders are themselves of suspect character) that any reasonable person must conclude that in these cases, real estate is not about "location, location, location.” It is about something else—something that has nothing to do with any particular address in Manhattan.
What is that something else?
The obvious (but misleading) answer is that the dispute is rooted in Islamophobia. I say obvious because the public commentary is chock full of prejudice against Islam. I say misleading because I believe this dispute’s roots lie deeper. I believe some people choose to ignore the facts because their patriotism is rooted in fear rather than faith. As such, the protests are mounted to defend a fraudulent patriotism which disserves both America and Christianity…
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