A Quote to Live By

I believe in morality, which is doing what is right regardless of what you are told, not religion, which is doing what you are told regardless of what is right.

An Older Piece on Park51

HS Paper Opinion

“What began as a dispute over a community center in Lower Manhattan has grown into a much larger controversy about the relationship between my beloved religion and my beloved country– between Islam and America.” These were strong and passionate words spoken by Imam Fiesel Absul Rauf, on September 13th, but no one can deny the truth they hold.  

In the beginning, the only thing that existed of this now-nationwide controversy was an empty building on Park Place, a brooding fear of Islam in American, and dreams of a tomorrow where all faiths could exist harmoniously. The plan was first brought into the public eye on December 8^th, 2009, via an article in the New York Times. From there on out, it exploded into a tense conflict over basic human rights, Muslims in the US, and whether or not ethics can trump legality.

      The community center and mosque, to be called Park51 “is a nonsectarian community, cultural and interfaith spiritual center along with a Muslim prayer area…” It is almost the equivalent of a Muslim-YMCA, with plans to have a culinary school and restaurant, art studio, library, fully equipped gym, and even dorms for young people of Islam faith. In some years Imam Fiesel Absul Rauf hopes it can be a place where all faiths feel free to worship. So the idea seems hopeful and tactful; but there’s one catch.

         The lot the imam has purchased with help from Sharif El-Gamal stands three blocks away from Ground Zero. The site of the September 11^th attacks on the World Trade Center is “sacred” and “hallowed ground” to many Americans, and they are outraged that a religion we so deeply associate with terrorism is putting down roots within eyeshot of this spot. But this is where the stupidity and bigotry of the U.S. most keenly shows itself. In an online paper written by Muriel Rothman, president of J Street U and a senior at Middlebury College, he rightly states, “It is true that the perpetrators of the 9-11 attacks were all Muslims. And it is also true that the Cordoba House [Park51] was proposed by Muslims as a space for Muslim community. That is, however, the only link between those responsible for the tragedy of September 11th and those proposing the construction of a community center in downtown Manhattan that will promote religious tolerance and understanding.”

       The mistake most “anti-mosque” campaigners are making, is that they directly associate terrorism, and the terrorist attacks of 2001, with the deep and beautiful religion of Islam. But in fact, Islam is to terrorism as Christianity is to the Klu Klux Klan: a terrible coincidence. While we were all staggering under the blow of September 11^th, the almost 2.5 million Muslims in the U.S.A. we’re taking the impact with us. It is ignorant and condescending to imagine that only people of certain religions could be affected by a national tragedy; while we sat in our houses mourning, the Muslims we all know as our doctors, teachers, classmates, didn’t run out into the street celebrating and cheering.  

        The imam himself is fighting a battle against the radicals of the Islam religion, and the vision the rest of the world is forming of Islam in general. He himself seeks to epitomize the moderate Muslims which make up 99% of his religion. He’s afraid though, that 99% of media coverage goes to the 1% of Muslim radicals out there. In a message to the media, he states, “Remember…the campaign against  radical ideologies is about winning hearts and minds. You can fuel the radicals, or your can 

limit their airtime.” He also adds that “Every religion in the world has extremists. Sadly, 

Islam is among them. All faiths have among their  members those who distort and twist the core  values for their own agendas. They advocate positions that we in this room and that decent people all over the world find totally absolutely abhorrent,” reiterating the fact that most Muslims do not support terrorism, they in fact, are repulsed as we are by it.

       In the days following September 11^th, many organizations run by Muslims released statements condemning terrorism. On the very day, the AMPCC (The American Muslim Political Coordination Council) released this statement: “American Muslims utterly condemn what are apparently vicious and cowardly acts of terrorism against innocent civilians. We join with all Americans in calling for the swift apprehension and punishment of the perpetrators. No political cause could ever be assisted by such immoral acts.” And a post regarding 9/11 on the Park51 website: “When our city was attacked on Sept. 11, Muslim New Yorkers were attacked, too. Scores of Muslim Americans perished, both in the attacks and as first responders. Hundreds of Muslims serve in our Police and Fire departments. Many Muslims are fighting alongside their fellow Americans in our armed forces.”

But even if people admit that all people of Islam are not terrorists, they’re still asking the question, “Why?”

        “Why here? Why within shouting distance of Ground Zero? Why should it serve as a constant reminder? Why not somewhere else?” Many Americans, especially New Yorkers, consider this land sacred, honorable, hallowed. They don’t want it sullied or spoiled. If they took a look, though, they’d find that a Muslim community center would be one of the more esteemed buildings around there. Within blocks of Ground Zero, there is a Burger King, an OTB Gambling Club, the New York Dolls Gentleman’s Club, and scores of tacky ‘made in China’ souvenir tables.

Some people don’t see it as spoiling a hallowed area in the first place. “Honestly, I feel like a lot of people consider it a desecration, but I myself feel like it almost shows remorse, and a wish to make peace,” says freshman Andy Cohen. Andy hits upon the original plan of Imam Fiesel Absul Rauf: To create a place of interfaith harmony, and bridge the gaps between Islam and the west.

        Morally, even if it upsets some people, I think the mosque is a good thing, a good move. But we can’t forget that this is America, and the constitution rules all. In America, you see, we have freedom of religion, meaning “the right, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, to choose religious practices or to abstain from any without government intervention.” It also states that all religions must be treated alike. Delk Koolman, sophomore, states “I don’t think we should stop them, since we have freedom of religion,” a sentiment echoed by other Western Students.

Few people would have objections to a Synagogue being built at Park51; even fewer, a church. So the City of New York is legally required to allow the construction of a mosque there. In fact, the mayor of NYC, Michael Bloomberg, President Obama and even the students at Western has backed this project. “I don’t think we should stop them, since we have freedom of religion,” says Delk Koolman, a sophomore, which a sentiment echoed by other students here.

      Fox News tells us that 73% of Americans know they have the legal right; but sadly, the same amendment that guarantees the imam the freedoms he needs, also guarantees activists the freedoms they need to try and stop him. Leading the anti-mosque campaign is Pamela Geller, a vicious and ill-informed blogger from New York, and the head of SIOA (Stop Islamization in America.) Along with Director Robert Spencer, she has launched SIOA’s first project: “Campaign Offensive: Stop the 911 Mosque!” As well as running bus ads around New York stating “Why there?”

        This anti-Islamic and greatly unneeded reaction is one of the reasons America has turned this molehill into a mountain. The initiative of the imam and his organization, Cordoba house, is an honest and beautiful idea. They are named for an establishment in Spain where Jews, Christians and Muslims lived happily alongside each other; so why are we trying to stop him when religious peace in America could be so close at hand?

Travels With Charley

From one of my favorite books, Travels with Charley, by John Steinbeck.

We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. …The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.

The best way to attract attention, help, and conversation is to be lost. A man who seeing his mother starving to death on a path kicks her in the stomach to clear the way, will cheerfully devote several hours of his time to giving wrong directions to a total stranger who claims to be lost.

On the long journey doubts were often my companions. I’ve always admired those reporters who can descend on an area, talk to key people, ask key questions, take samplings of opinions, and then set down an orderly report very like a road map. I envy this technique and at the same time do not trust it as a mirror of reality. I feel that there are too many realities. What I set down here is true until someone else passes that way and rearranges the world in his own style. …For this reason I cannot commend this account as an America that you will find. So much there is to see, but our morning eyes describe a different world than do our afternoon eyes, and surely our wearied evening eyes can report only a weary evening world.

I came out on this trip to try to learn something of America. Am I learning anything? If I am, I don’t know what it is. …in the eating places along the roads the food has been clean, tasteless, colorless, and of a complete sameness. It is almost as though the customers had no interest in what they ate so long as it had no character to embarrass them. …A freshly laid egg does not taste remotely like the pale, battery-produced refrigerated egg. The sausage would be sweet and sharp and pungent with spices, and my coffee a wine-dark happiness. Can I then say that the America I saw has put cleanliness first, at the expense of taste?… We’ve listened to local radio all across the country. And apart from a few reportings of football games, the mental fare has been as generalized, as packaged, and as undistinguished as the food. I had been keen to hear what people thought politically. Those whom I had met did not talk about the subject, didn’t seem to want to talk about it. It seemed to me partly caution and partly a lack of interest, but strong opinions were just not stated.