The battle lines over the proposed “ground zero mosque” have been drawn.
I must stipulate that I use the term loosely and only as a frame of reference — what is being proposed is not a mosque, but an Islamic Cultural Center.
Nor is the site at ground zero. It is two blocks away.
But make no mistake, the two blocks are brisk.
As I visited the Park51 site in Lower Manhattan this past Sept. 11, the most politicized 9/11 anniversary in recent memory.
I expected a war. I got a war.
I first paid my respects from just outside St. Paul’s chapel overlooking ground zero. A man sat nearby playing “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah” on his flute.
Many brought flowers to place in the links of Gate 3H. Others gathered around the famous ground zero cross, an intersection of beams found in World Trade Center debris that resembles a Christian cross.
The scene was at first somber, though the vitriol soon became apparent.
Behind my shoulder I overheard an irate student who appeared about my own age.
“That’s ground zero,” he said to a group of friends, pointing at the ghosts of the Twin Towers. He pointed two blocks over, towards the intersection of Park and Church. It was so close that I could just make out the street signs.
“That’s the mosque. It’s right there.”
“How do you feel about it?” I asked.
“It’s a disgrace,” he said. With violence in his voice he added, “And you better be against it, too.”
In the wake of the initial controversy over the mosque, President Obama said,
“Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances.
This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.” He later added,
“I was not and will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there.”
At the time I found the President’s words ambiguous and inconsistent. Only in the heart of the chaotic opposition around ground zero did I understand him.
Viewing the true passion of the proposed mosque’s opposition firsthand, I couldn’t help but question the wisdom of insisting on the construction of a project that brings out such violent insecurity in the American people.
A recent Quinnipiac poll reported that just over three out of five American voters believe that it is wrong to build a mosque so close to ground zero.
However, in light of my experience at the site, I am grateful that the religious freedom of a minority is not subject to public referendum.
Hundreds came to Park51 in protest.
A speech by Rusty Lee Thomas, assistant director of Operation Save America, characterized the mood of those opposed to the construction of the mosque.
“[Supporters of the mosque] call us intolerant,” he wailed, his voice echoing through lower Manhattan. “Try to build a church in Egypt or Syria. We are not intolerant. They are intolerant.”
During the speech, a shofar, a traditional Jewish horn, was blown, sounding off like a righteous trumpet. A woman behind me became disgusted.
“This has gone too far,” she said as she scurried away from the site. I shared her sentiment. I turned and took a free postcard from a man soliciting.
“God bless America,” he said. And I agreed with him, though I felt sick examining the cartoon on the card he gave me, which depicted a terrorist guffawing over the ruins of the Towers with an elaborate mosque behind him.
The Constitution bulged from his pocket, as if to suggest our cherished rights and institutions benefit terrorists over our own fallen heroes.
The mosque controversy is ultimately a test of how deeply America values its dedication to religious freedom.
I’ve continually studied the cartoon on the postcard I received, haunted by the suggestion that the rights of the people are among America’s weaknesses, rather than its greatest strengths.
At ground zero I found much memorializing, but the mood was mostly hostile.
I was chilled for hours afterward — my goosebumps did not recede until I was away from the specter of the Towers.
The magnitude of the 9/11 tragedy hit home — and it hit hard.
Heading back to Midtown Manhattan, I immediately began considering which words would capture the essence of mood at ground zero. Moving was not right. Crushing, suffocating, overwhelming — all three do the truth more justice.
At nightfall I took the night tour downtown.
Eventually the bus stopped in Brooklyn Heights and from across the river our group admired the 9/11 tribute lights rise to the heights of the night sky, glimmering like ghosts of the Twin Towers.
We clamored to take pictures.
It was there, away from the political tension, that I could finally have my own personal memorial to our fallen heroes of Sept. 11, 2001.
To that experience, the word moving definitely applied.
It was abundantly clear that there is no easy solution for either side of the debate over the so-called ground zero mosque, whatever becomes of it.
Mikey Rumore can be reached at mrumore@spartans.ut.edu.
Well done for your article. I will bookmark your site and visit again.
Well written article. As a NYC resident the 9/11 tragedy is something I have been constantly reminded of. I try and avoid the financial district at all costs, I never want to go back, too much happened there. I am surprised that the islamic center has touched so many nerves in a city where i see so much tolerance. As with any city there will be hatred and the dislike of others different than themselves, but I like to think of my city as tolerant and respectful. I can’t walk down the street and not hear dozens of languages, or rub shoulders with someone of a different race, religion, creed or orientation than mine.
I understand many think two blocks is not much, in New York its a huge difference. Wander from the park to lexington ave, then to 2nd ave. It changes, quick.
Those like me who were personally affected by this tragedy I hope have reflected, prayed, and not let their hatred for a few extremists ruin their opinion of an entire religion. That is not America, that is not Manhattan, be proud to be a melting pot.
“9/11 was a political event, not a religious one. That some Americans do not understand this is the basis of the controversy.”
To a Muslim jihadist, the political is the religious is the political – they are the same. Until we as Americans realize this, then we won’t have a clue understanding the threats out there.
Ms. Khan must be a part of that “crowd” too. Only a few months ago she mentioned the 9/11/11 date for the project.
A couple things:
They did not want to open the mosque on September 11, 2011. That is factually incorrect. The Hannity/Beck crowd has spread this lie around, but it has no basis in fact.
Comparing the construction of the Islamic Center to the acts of 7th Century Muslims is about as silly as blaming modern day Catholics for the Crusades.
9/11 was a political event, not a religious one. That some Americans do not understand this is the basis of the controversy.
A Muslim religious group has the absolute right to their choice of religious worship, and the right to build a religious center on property that they own.
The problem is symbolism as it has always been, and that I have talked about before in this comment box. Muslim armies strode from the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century and decimated the Zoroastrian Persian Empire, conquered Christian Egypt, and over the intervening centuries crushed the Byzantine Empire, the Berber kingdoms, most of Spain and nearly wiped Hindu civilization off the planet (if not for a completely unexpected intervention by the British who were looking to expand their own empire).
In all of these conquests, Muslims armies erected mosques near the sites of victories, or forcibly converted religious centers into mosques – the most famous being the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, which saw its clergy slaughtered in the nave, and the nuns raped and murdered on the altars. Less famous are the many Hindu temples that were destroyed and built over. Many of these places have been intense flashpoints of Indian-Pakistani relations.
We here in America do not appreciate such arcane symbolism; the idea of destroying the landmarks of another culture to assert our own dominance is upsetting. Even in the occupation of Japan after WW2, the US Army took pains not to kill Hirohito or destroy Japanese culture; only to defang it.
This mosque controversy is partially fueled by a (yes, justifiable) fear of Islamism, and partly fueled by an understanding of symbolism. Now, the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ is likely not meant to be a symbol of Islamic dominance – but to those extremists whose works destroyed the World Trade Center, it would be the ultimate symbol. A mosque at the site of their victory over the infidels. It didn’t help that they wanted to open the mosque on September 11, 2011 – a date which would also be highly symbolic for all the wrong reasons.
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So, for those students of this fine university with short attention spans:
1) There is a legal right to build the Islamic Center on Private property. There is no reason not to understand and support that they have this right.
2) Building an Islamic religious center there is poor symbolism. If their -stated goal- is to build better community relations, then they undermine the goal by being so provocative. If they want to be provocative, at least be honest and admit it.