The Mosque near Ground Zero in New York City

Photo by Shazron

People continue to demonstrate against the community center with a mosque inside being built.  The polls say that the majority oppose this community center because it is too close to where the twin towers once stood.  Of course, the new building will not be visible from where the twin towers block.  Politicians have come out for and against.

Why is this happening?  People are frustrated with what is going on in their lives.  Many fear the changes in this country as a more urban, less white group of leaders begin to take over.  Many have felt the monetary effects of the recession.  Savings have been lost.  Retirement set back or put off indefinitely.  There is real fear that a middle class way of life is being taken away from the majority of Americans.  People who are afraid need to feel they still have power.  One way to feel power is to focus on another group to denigrate and feel superior to.  Muslims are the group that has received that focus.

Leaders in some Christian venues have fanned the fear into hatred of Muslims.  All Muslims have been made a threat to Christianity.  Regularly, emails circulate through churches containing diatribes against Muslims and creating the vision of Muslims as being two-faced, polite to us on one hand and plotting our demise on the other. The message is that it is either or.  Christianity must defeat Islam or fall.

Republicans have also played a part in this, fanning the flames of hatred and coming out against the mosque and the man trying to build the community center.  They have even toyed with the issue of our President's faith.  In the hysteria of the moment some Americans believe the President is Muslim not Christian.  An interview he did in 2004 is circulating through the faith community trying to fan that belief.  How?   In the interview, then State Senator Obama does not use the code words of faith that evangelicals would use.  His answers reflect a more intellectual approach to faith, but a very strong faith.  Those lack of code words will convince some that he is not a Christian.  How sad.

My question:  Why does it matter what faith he is as long as he upholds his oath of office?

If it does matter, then we are not a tolerant nation.  A Muslim is as much a person of faith as a Christian.  Christian, Muslim, Jew all worship the God of Abraham.  Even this may be too much.  Shouldn't an atheist be able to be President?  I would say yes as long as we have a very clear knowledge of his value system.  Will an atheist ever be President?  I doubt it.  To be elected a person will have to have at least nominal faith.

Christians need to reflect on our heritage.  Jesus said to "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those that mistreat you."  He summed it up:  "Do to others as you would have them do to you."  Denying someone their place to worship is not fulfilling the Golden Rule.

The United States was not designed to allow majority rule.  The United States was designed to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority.  We need to act under that premise.  The community center with the mosque must be built.

                                                 

Muslim Center Two Blocks from Ground Zero

 Controversy surrounds the possible construction of a mosque and Muslim community center two blocks from ground zero in New York.  The building standing there now was damaged by one of the engines from a jet that hit the World Trade Center towers.  To read some comments by Mayor Bloomberg click on the title of this blog.

People affected in different ways by the tragedy have spoken against the new structure.  Most, but not all, equating the worshipers that would attend services at the mosque with the radicals that claimed their acts of terror were done in fulfillment of their Islamic faith.  I have even received emails from friends in my church containing screeds against all Muslims and expressing the belief that the mosque is a Muslim plot to honor the bombers.


How easily we forget the excesses of our faith.  How many innocents were burned at the stake?  Tortured on the rack?  Endured unspeakable horrors inflicted by those that called themselves Christian?  Even today, some of my Baptist brethren will tell you Catholics are not Christians.  The more fervent the belief the farther we are willing to go, for example, abortion doctors killed by Christian zealots. 

Christians and Muslims are not so different.  The majority struggle to understand and follow the dictates of their faith in our everyday lives.  Only on the fringe do we find those who would distort the faith and kill in its name.  Murder is a sin in any faith.


The mosque and community center should be built.  Christians are admonished not to judge.  I think that scripture is particularly apt with applied to other faiths.  How dare we try to limit God and say he can be experienced only one way. While I believe Christianity is the clearest expression of God and humankind's relationship,  I do not believe Christianity is the only true revelation of God. Jesus spoke of other shepherds, surely some are Imams.


Finally, let me say that the mosque should be built because Muslims died on 9/11, and I am not referring to the hijackers.  Below is a partial list of Muslims that were killed that day from Ask.com.  Remember them when the mosque becomes reality.  Honor them. 

Partial List of Muslim Victims:
Note: This list is as yet incomplete and unconfirmed.  It has been compiled from the Islamic Circle of North America, the Newsday victims database, and reports from other major news organizations.  The victims' ages, employers, or other personal information is included when available, along with links to further information or photos.
Samad Afridi
Ashraf Ahmad
Shabbir Ahmad (45 years old; Windows on the World; leaves wife and 3 children)
Umar Ahmad
Azam Ahsan
Ahmed Ali
Tariq Amanullah (40 years old; Fiduciary Trust Co.; ICNA website team member; leaves wife and 2 children)
Touri Bolourchi (69 years old; United Airlines #175; a retired nurse from Tehran)
Salauddin Ahmad Chaudhury
Abdul K. Chowdhury (30 years old; Cantor Fitzgerald)
Mohammad S. Chowdhury (39 years old; Windows on the World; leaves wife and child born 2 days after the attack)
Jamal Legesse Desantis
Ramzi Attallah Douani (35 years old; Marsh & McLennan)
SaleemUllah Farooqi
Syed Fatha (54 years old; Pitney Bowes)
Osman Gani
Mohammad Hamdani (50 years old)
Salman Hamdani (NYPD Cadet)
Aisha Harris (21 years old; General Telecom)
Shakila Hoque (Marsh & McLennan)
Nabid Hossain
Shahzad Hussain
Talat Hussain
Mohammad Shah Jahan (Marsh & McLennan)
Yasmeen Jamal
Mohammed Jawarta (MAS security)
Arslan Khan Khakwani
Asim Khan
Ataullah Khan
Ayub Khan
Qasim Ali Khan
Sarah Khan (32 years old; Cantor Fitzgerald)
Taimour Khan (29 years old; Karr Futures)
Yasmeen Khan
Zahida Khan
Badruddin Lakhani
Omar Malick
Nurul Hoque Miah (36 years old)
Mubarak Mohammad (23 years old)
Boyie Mohammed (Carr Futures)
Raza Mujtaba
Omar Namoos
Mujeb Qazi
Tarranum Rahim
Ehtesham U. Raja (28 years old)
Ameenia Rasool (33 years old)
Naveed Rehman
Yusuf Saad
Rahma Salie & unborn child (28 years old; American Airlines #11; wife of Michael Theodoridis; 7 months pregnant)
Shoman Samad
Asad Samir
Khalid Shahid (25 years old; Cantor Fitzgerald; engaged to be married in November)
Mohammed Shajahan (44 years old; Marsh & McLennan)
Naseema Simjee (Franklin Resources Inc.'s Fiduciary Trust)
Jamil Swaati
Sanober Syed
Robert Elias Talhami (40 years old; Cantor Fitzgerald)
Michael Theodoridis (32 years old; American Airlines #11; husband of Rahma Salie)
W. Wahid 


Photo from andrewroman.net

Atheist ads to adorn New York subway stations - CNN.com

Several atheist groups have come together in New York City to post anti-religion statements on the New York Subway. Clicking on the title of this post will send you to an article on this plan.

Any advertisement that calls attention to faith and God is good for all religions. The faithful need to fear is indifference, not dislike. Too many people in this country have, at best, a cultural belief in a supreme being but no personal experience with God. These ads may make people think about the role of God in our national life. The atheist is far closer to God than someone who never thinks about faith.

These ads may have one pernicious result. Atheists like to portray Christianity in its most conservative form. In the Midwest, a group is placing anti-Christian ads on billboards that are aimed at Christian fundamentalists. Fundamentalism is easily caricatured and ridiculed. These ads in Detroit are designed to cement the image of Christianity as fundamentalism in the minds of non-believers.

Christians are already portrayed in simplistic fashion by the media. These ads may enforce the worst image of the faith as anti-science and anti-intellectual. Mainstream Christianity is neither. Mainstream believers need to advertise our viewpoint. We also need to enlist those of other faiths in the struggle. We must contact the media and demand a balanced view of all religions, not just ours. The time has come for the truth to set us free.