commentary: a church by any other name is just as sweet?

As of late I have tended to steer clear of discussing current events here, however with the recent and disgraceful behavior of Americans reacting to the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York City, a fire has been lit inside me, and with each letter I type I consider it one shot at the ignorance of each American who has used this potential building as an opportunity to expel their hatred and bigotry toward those from the Middle East and those who practice the Islamic faith.

As a human, I am embarrassed. But as an American, I am even more so. Being brought up in a country that ensures me the right to practice whatever faith I choose (or to be more accurate, what faith I do not wish to choose), I have been able to embark on my own spiritual journey: beginning with an infantile understanding of Christianity and God, to rising early every Sunday and wearing pastel-colored dresses to church, to growing older and more cynical, favoring science to Jesus, and then to my current rest stop, favoring the power of the human good to the inhuman god. I had never really considered this journey as a gift, or that practicing and experimenting with different theological thoughts were uncommon in the life of an individual. However, upon boning up for my first US Constitution test in the fourth grade, I quickly learned that this right to find or forego faith is something quite uncommon (or has been, at least) in many places outside of the United States and something that I should not take for granted. This right is something that is and has been unique about the United States of America since the get-go, and arguably is the most important given its implications and place in the Bill of Rights. Why then, when persons of a particular faith desire to construct an area where they may practice their respective faith, is there such a harsh, national outcry against it?

Looking at the situation objectively, it is quite puzzling to observe this reaction. Christians want more space to worship, they build a church. Jews want more space to worship, they build a synagogue. Muslims want more space to worship, they build…nothing? It makes no sense. True, the United States is culturally Christian with its Salvation Army Santa’s congregating at the automatic doors of our superstores like moths to a flame, annoying everyone with the incessant ting of their bells, however the Establishment Clause states perhaps even more clearly than those bells that “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” That’s right; despite the Super Wal-Mart Santas and commonplace-called “Christmas” vacations we look forward to at the end of each year, we are by no means a Christian nation. And given the influx of immigrants who practice different faiths, Christianity’s days of cultural influence are numbered.

Whether that is good or not is not the question at hand. While it is obvious that a dying animal screams loudest before it perishes in the proverbial fire, it is necessary to examine why we are screaming and what we are screaming at, and furthermore, if there is a need to scream to begin with. There are two reasons, mainly: one being that the traditionally WASPy face of the US is getting a facelift and a tan, and two, that we happened to be attacked by several Islamic men one terrible day in September.

While the latter is something that I do not by any means wish to trivialize, it is important to realize that the men who did such a horrendous act were not acting like many other Muslims; these mean belonged to a minority sect of jihadists who interpret the Qu’ran much like a Christian fundamentalist would interpret the Bible. Suffice it to say, I wouldn’t want either of them to be given a gun. Yes, there are nasty things in the Qu’ran, but it is naïve and ignorant to think that there simply aren’t any violent passages in our gilded copies of the good ole Bible (check out Numbers 31 for a good, bloody read). Likewise, we think of those few Christians who interpret what is written literally as out of touch with the times and neglecting to shed light to the Bible’s metaphorical meaning, so why would we assume that all Muslims interpret the Qu’ran as the 9/11 terrorists? The logic just doesn’t add up, and at the end of the day, it’s safe to say that those who attacked us are no more Muslim than Timothy McVeigh was a Christian.

I understand the sensitivity toward the mosque’s potential construction site. Yes, it is close, perhaps uncomfortably so, to the place where thousands of Americans lost their lives due to the actions of a few Muslim extremists. However, one must realize that the people who did such a terrible thing were not the type of Muslim who would go to a community center Mosque. Sequestered by extremist Islamic terrorist groups at an early age, many of today’s jihadists have little to no choice in their lives and interpretation of their faith, given that violence and hatred (themes that are shared among many religions) are drilled into their heads for years. And please, do not think that there are no Christian terrorists (just read up on the history of Northern Ireland. Talk about tumultuous.). Additionally, it is important to note that on that day in September, 300 out of the over 3,000 who died were Muslim, too, and furthermore, it was not the Islamic faith that flew planes into American buildings, but rather the actions of few inspired by their own interpretation of an ancient text.

My main concern, however, is with what effect the legitimate concerns and feelings of those in New York City are having throughout the country. The Muslims that wish to build this mosque are breaking no law, but rather merely constructing something that the United States Constitution entitles them to do. That said, many Muslims throughout the country who have nothing to do with the construction of the mosque in New York City are being mercilessly persecuted by many Tea Party members, many of whom happen to be both white and Christian. There are protesters in Tennessee, for instance, who describe a planned Islamic center in Murfreesboro as "an Islamic training center" that is part of a political, not religious, movement "designed to fracture the moral and political foundation of Middle Tennessee."  Many of these people also preach to their ignorant choir of the dangers of the “Islamization of America.” They squawk of its intolerance and violence and how dangerous it would be for a religion to have a hold on a country, yet they pay no mind to the fact that Christianity has had a veritable chokehold on our nation’s culture for centuries, and all of the intolerance and violence that has been done in the name of Christianity for thousands of years.

In addition to this hypocrisy on the parts of many ignorant Americans, it is perhaps even more sickening and troubling that there are those who know better and who are manipulating the noggins of the nescient, preaching to their ignorance and igniting the figurative flame to set their bigotry ablaze.

And for what? Votes. To take back of the House and Senate, and take back of the old face of America. For example, Newt Gingrich has recently taken to saying that a mosque being built at Ground Zero is akin to a Hitler memorial being built next to Auschwitz. That’s great, Newt. Mention the Holocaust and Hitler and everyone’s scared shitless. The obvious differences between a place of worship and a memorial for an evil man are staggering and far too vast to count, and are honestly just propaganda that appeal to the mass number of uneducated citizens we have in the United States. And if we’re really going to make comparisons, a more fair one would be that building a mosque next to Ground Zero is like stationing US troops next to the many “Ground Zero’s” we have caused in the Middle East. That manipulation, implanted bigotry, and that aim and shoot attack on an individual’s own fears and ignorance is perhaps more damaging to the United States’ future as a tolerant and free nation than the terrorist attacks themselves.

The face of the United States is and has been changing for years, and in this evolution comes additions and alterations in culture, especially religion. That said, these changes are natural and nothing to fear. What I love most about being an American is that despite all of these changes, the law acts as a string to which all of these changes do tie, giving consistency, balance and freedom when things are in flux. The law has no race or religion, so don’t apply them to it. We’ve come too far as a country to revert back to familiar tactics when we’re scared of how quickly things do change. The earth is always moving, people are always being born and dying. Life happens, change happens, and there’s nothing we can do but accept it. We do, however, have the great gift of living in a nation founded upon freedom, and freedom that unifies us all because it applies to everyone. And the unfortunate day that we deny these freedoms to certain individuals marks the beginning of our demise.