On the "Ground Zero Mosque"

This is making the rounds in Facebook as the author is asking for us to spread the word. And I shall. Gladly. So many of my so-called Christian friends (most of them new Christians, too) are against this with so much passion that I am seriously bothered. This time, it isn't so much as a mere disagreement in ideology. We are entering the realm of the manifestion of that ideology -- an ideology that, I fear, is rooted is hatred.

Here is, as what my mom said, an authentically Christian perspective on the matter.

More and more, I am beginning to see that just because it is Converservative doesn't necessarily mean that it is Christian. (And just because I am Liberal, doesn't mean I am heathen...Well, I try. Hehe. :D)

But more than the labels, let us seriously think about the implications of our actions and where these are coming from. Are we compelled to do out of hate? Ignorance? Intolerance?

Remember that all Jesus told us to do was to love God and to love each other. Nothing more.

..o..

The Ground Zero Mosque: Why It Should Happen

by Ryan Patch

With all of the political controversy surrounding the "Ground Zero Mosque", the opinions flying and accusations blaring, I thought I would write a little ditty to express my sentiments about the issue, and frankly, tell you why you should agree with me. I usually like to sit back in conversations, ask questions, watch others duke it out, and be devil's advocate to both sides. However, because I feel this issue has the potential to shape world politics and American attitudes for years to come, I've decided to speak up. I'm not really interested in preaching to the choir here, or having 100 of my New York friends "like" the note. I would much prefer you cross-post and spread this around and hopefully have others consider this issue with nuance. This is an open letter to all who disagree with me, appealing on the grounds that I, like you, am an American and Christian, and building the mosque is the best thing that we could do.

Basically, if Americans are successful in prohibiting a mosque at ground zero, it will be one of the greatest victories for Al-Qaida and extremist Islam since perhaps the 9/11 attacks, and we should allow and support the building of a Mosque at ground zero. Here's why:

Al-Qaida is a part of a growing extremist movement in Islam that wants to radicalize the entire world population of Muslims, approximately 1.82 billion people, against the west. The attacks that they've waged against the west are intended to hurt us, yes, but are also meant to catalyze and radicalize the larger Islamic community. Extremists make up a small minority of the Muslim community, and their goal is to take the hundreds of thousands of followers and turn them into millions or a billion. As evidence of this, why do you think Al-Qaida's main communications are always in Arabic? If they wanted to spew hate to America, I would at least invest in a translator. But their target is other Muslims. There is an internal struggle in Islam for the heart of the population that the West sustains collateral damage from, but the real issue is an internal fight for the center of Islam by extremist groups. For an excellent primer on this, I would recommend Reza Aslan's "No God But God". Get it here: http://www.amazon.com/No-god-but-God-Evolution/dp/1400062136

Islam is a peaceful religion, any conversation with a normal Muslim, Imam, or through reading of the Koran will tell you. Their values are very close to the Judeo-Christian values that we hold so dear in the west, and certainly the violence in the Koran can't be outdone by the violence advocated and chronicled in the Old Testament (ah-hem - "...blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones Against the rock" in Psalms. Taken out of context, I know, but simply for comparison purposes.) Additionally, if Christians were prohibited from building churches next to any places where someone claiming to be a Christian has committed acts of hatred, we might be limited to building in Canada. Or Iceland.

By banning or denying peaceful Muslims the right to build a "mosque" (really a community center, if you do your research), we would effectively be saying to the Muslim world "look, we don't differentiate between the violent sects of your religion and the vast majority of you who live peaceful lives." We'd be saying that we're not interested in engaging their religion, races, people, or culture in conversation – we reject all of it. Additionally, the order behind the Mosque is the Sufi order; by far the least fundamental and most spiritual, mystical, and peaceful of the orders. A full explanation can't be given here, but suffice it to say that if we have someone to fear, it's not this order.

Religious persecution has never, ever been an effective tool in de-radicalizing any religion – it will always result in the resurgence, perseverance, and further radicalization of the religion. By opposing them, something in religious zeal is awoken that says "they are fighting against us... we are onto something true and good... let's keep going stronger." To quote Dom Cobb: "What's the most resilient parasite? An idea." Religions don't disappear under pressure, they explode.

We need to be focusing on ghetto-izing extremist Islam, making it an outcast, and inviting the rest of the Muslim world into the Western conversation. To put it more simply, if "a bad apple ruins the whole bunch", the idea would be to separate the good apples from the bad before the cross-contamination can happen. It hasn't happened yet – a majority of the world's Muslims still live peaceful lives and aren't swayed by Al-Qaida's stunts and rhetoric. If Americans continue with our unilateral, lump-all-Muslims-into-one-category strategy, this will push the entire Muslim community away from us, which is the most damaging and dangerous thing that we could possibly do. We can handle a couple of million radicalized Muslims, but we cannot handle 100 million or 1 billion. If we reject the greater Muslim community, pressurizing the 1 Billion Muslims around the world, that Muslim community can only hold out for so long before they will succumb to a growing extremist movement within themselves and explode.

I can't think of how insulting it would be to have someone hold up a sign outside my church that said "Building a Church is a Monument to the Crusades" or "Allowing a church to meet here is Supporting Racial Discrimination". It would be infuriating, both because it implicates me as responsible for committing these crimes, and also because it doesn't leave any room for growth, forgiveness, reconciliation, change in, or a nuanced view of the religion. By prohibiting the Islamic Community Center at Ground Zero, we would be doing the same thing, which would represent a giant step backwards for America, a giant victory for extremist Muslims around the world, and a decision that would undoubtedly radicalize many, many more Muslims. Despite whatever "insensitivity" you claim building it would carry, the consequences for blocking it are much, much more dire. Allowing the mosque to be built will be a much-needed first step in the reconciliation between east and west that we, in all of our modern, enlightened glory, have not been able to make until now.