This is what it has come to? Last night I was watching television and saw an interview with a Minister in Florida that is organizing a rally on September 11th for a mass burning of the Koran. That’s right, a large group of people seem to think it is a good idea to get together and burn the Koran, the Muslim equivalent of the Christian Bible.
The interviewer asked the man, and I am reluctant to call him a Pastor because I cannot believe a man of the cloth would perpetrate such an event, if there was anyone person in the United States that he admired. He answered, “Yes, President Bush.” So the interviewer asked, “So if President Bush called and ask you not to do this would you stop the rally?” His answer was no.
Looking beyond outrage, I was saddened. I can’t believe that this is what I am hearing in the United States. A country symbolized by Lady Liberty standing on Liberty Island. “Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free.” Just make sure that they are not of the Muslim Faith.
What happened? Why did it take ten years from the 9-11 attack for this rhetoric to be ratcheted up so fiercely?
Some would say it is because of the proposed Islamic Cultural Center in lower Manhattan. A few years back we visited that area in lower Manhattan. I saw some amazing things. I saw people gathered outside of a first responder fire house across the street from the World Trade Center site burst into spontaneous applause when the fire fighters opened the station house door. I saw people lower their voices to a whisper when the crossed the street and walked the side walks by where the twin towers once stood. Speaking in soft tones like one does in a church or holy place. I saw the Church across the street where the rescue workers rested between shifts on those horrible days, the pews forever scratched and scarred from their boots.
That’s not all I saw. I saw shameless hucksters across the street selling souvenirs and trying to make a buck. I saw hotels and a Burger King, a huge retail Century 21 store and even a strip bar. All part of the fabric that makes up New York City.
The other thing that strikes you when you visit this area is how small it really is. The streets are narrow, the green space is non-existent, and the buildings are tall. You cannot see around the corner, let alone down the street.
But because the 9-11 hijackers were Muslims all these things, even the t-shirt vendors are OK on the often referenced scared ground, but not a community center for Muslims. Strip bars yes, Muslim Community Center, no. OK. So how many blocks away is appropriate. Apparently not as far away as Florida or even in Tennessee where in Murfreesboro they are trying to stop a mosque as well. Where then? The warehouse district, out in those industrial areas where they put the adult book stores?
What or who is to say what is appropriate for lower Manhattan. Who is to say what is appropriate for Oklahoma City or anywhere else that some group deems sacred ground? The constitution, that’s what.
The right to religious freedom is the very foundation that this country was built upon. Because some blowhard on the radio or TV or some politician looking to grab a headline or some misguided fool in Florida doesn’t like it, just doesn’t matter.
Is it distasteful? Perhaps. But how can you paint a broad stroke that all Muslims are terrorists? It would be like saying all Catholics are terrorists because Timothy McVeigh was Roman Catholic. It is pure racially motivated hatred and it sickens me.
My next door neighbor on 9-11 was Muslim. He and his family were ashamed and hurting just like the rest of us. He was afraid for his safety. Why? He didn’t do anything. I never thought he was a terrorist nor had anything to do with the World Trade Center coming down. He flew an American flag on his porch like the rest of us.
Everyone has the right to worship or not to worship as they see fit and where they see fit. Trying to stop this Islamic Center is a very slippery slope. What’s next? Regulating in what parts of the city there can be a synagogue? And what about the use of Roman numerals on buildings. Wasn’t Pontius Pilate a Roman? See? How far does it go?
Burning the Koran. Racial hatred, and all this on the eve on Dr. King’s historic march on Washington.
Keep feeding the 24 hour news channels. Keep listening to the hate mongers on TV and Radio. They will be there spewing this nonsense as long as there is an audience for it.
I for one am worried about the direction of my country. I will continue to pray for it, until such time as some politician decides my neighborhood is an inappropriate place to do so.
