Passions are high. Understandably so:
Several proposed Islamic centers, including one near Ground Zero, have touched off a heated nationwide debate that raises questions about the state of religious tolerance in post-9/11 America.
A planned mosque and Islamic center, just a stone’s throw away from the World Trade Center site, even prompted Sarah Palin to send a series of Twitter posts Sunday asking peace-seeking Muslims to “pls reject it in the interest of healing.”
The possibility of an Islamic center in California compelled a Baptist minister, whose church would sit next door to the mosque, to compare the plan to putting cats and dogs in the same cage. In Murfreesboro, Tenn., a proposed mosque led to heated outbursts at public hearings, including threats to boycott any builder who works on it.
Opposition over mosque building appears to be at a new high and follows a recent string of thwarted terror plots involving American Muslims, say experts. Muslim leaders say the protests are built on bigotry and ignorance, while opponents say they have legitimate concerns over Islamic militancy.
via Ground Zero mosque: spate of terror plots fueling fears – CSMonitor.com.
It’s helpful to map the landscape of this issue, naming some pertinent features of what reasoned debate/conversation would need to address. In a future entry, we’ll explore these in more detail. For now, a partial list:
1. (a theological question): The nature of the universal/exclusivist claims of Christianity and Islam. (This pertains to the California Baptist minister’s characterization of a mosque and church next to one another being like putting cats and dogs next to one another.)
2. (a theological/psychological question): The nature and dynamics of healing. (This pertains to Sarah Palin’s tweet.)
3. (a religious/theological/political question): The relationship– or lack thereof– of Islamic teaching to radical jihadist rhetoric and “religious” violence.
4. (empirical, sociological questions): What can we truthfully say about the American Muslim community, in terms of demographics, countries of origin (if not the United States), cities and states with the largest Muslim communities, etc.?
5. (a historical question): What’s the history of American Christianity and Islam?
6. (a theological/psychological question): How does fear affect us and our relationships?
July 30, 2010 at 2:15 pm
This is a challenging topic. In New Hampshire we have limited exposure to Islam. The first Mosque in NH is still under construction. Fortunately, I haven’t heard of any public disapproval. I look forward to reading more on this topic; I’m glad you brought it up. This is a reflection of world tensions; improving understanding amongst the world faiths is critical in working toward peace.
July 31, 2010 at 1:00 pm
For me it is the 6th question that must come first. In our fear (and the unresolved grief and anger that are close cousins) we severely diminish our capacity to be reasonable. Questions 1-5 all require us to think, but in our fear we resort to the more primitive “fight or flight” responses. Until we move past our fear of “the other” – it seems to me – it is virtually impossible to ask these other serious questions. One of the insidious challenges we face, IMHO, are those politicians and so-called religious leaders who want us to be very afraid.