Sometimes it’s impossible to avoid offending people. We don’t want to give offense, but there’s just no reasonable way around it. We hope people will understand. We hope people will be reasonable, but sometimes they don’t and won’t.
Take, for example, grocers and butchers. They certainly don’t want to offend any of their customers, but market realities demand that they offer bacon and ham in their meat cases. Americans love pork. Inevitably, some Jews and Muslims will take offense.
Similarly, some uber-fundamentalist Christians and garden variety bigots are going to take offense to the building of a mosque, no matter where it’s built. Clearly, Muslims can’t stop building mosques in America simply because some people resent and fear everything Islamic.
Now, on the other hand, few things reveal a meagerness of spirit and smallness of character more than giving offense needlessly or “just because we can.” Deliberately offending people, rubbing their faces in what one knows will provoke offense, anguish and anger, is yet another matter. It is contemptible, and it is difficult to excuse. Take the case of the Nazis in Illinois.
In 1977 the Chicago chapter of the National Socialist Party of America, an organization ordered upon Hitleresque Nazi ideology, planned to march through the town of Skokie, Illinois in military uniforms with full Nazi regalia. Skokie was a community famous for its unusually high concentration of Jewish residents, many of whom lost relatives in, or themselves experienced, Hitler’s concentration camps. It could hardly be doubted that the planned march had but a single purpose—to offend, affront, frighten and intimidate the Jews and decent people of Skokie—to rub their faces in the horrors of the mass murder that had shocked and shamed the world, ripping the scabs from the tender wounds produced by six million dead. The most generous imagination could not admit of any other purpose for the march.
Recognizing that the Skokie march would likely erupt in violence, town officials did all in their power to prevent the Nazis from marching. They denied permits and passed ordinances prohibiting parades in military-style uniforms. They banned the distribution of hate literature, but it was all to no avail. While the intentions of the Nazis were despicable, federal courts consistently upheld their right to express their despicable ideas. The First Amendment trumped the sensitivities of the Jewish residents of Skokie, and the Supreme Court rightly ordered town officials to issue the Nazis a permit to march.
For reasons unrelated to the litigation, the Nazis changed their plans at the last minute, and the Skokie march was called off. It is almost certain that the cancellation spared the town a day of violence.
In New York City tonight two Muslim groups are planning to build a 15-story, multi-million dollar mosque and Islamic community center within spitting distance of Ground Zero. Representatives of planners readily admit that the site has been selected specifically because of its proximity to that place where many hundreds of innocents died at the hands of Muslim extremists, 19 twisted men in league to murder thousands in the name of a God unknown to true Muslims.
Now, the intentions of the group may be pure. They may be telling the truth when they say they intend the mosque to be a place of healing and community for all New Yorkers. That may be so, but many—a great many—New Yorkers aren’t buying it. Many, perhaps even most, New Yorkers see the planned mosque at Ground Zero as a deliberate affront—as rubbing their faces in the memory of that horrible morning in September, 2001.
Developers have been told that their multi-use mosque and community center project, variously called Cordoba House and Park51, will give offense to millions of New Yorkers and millions of Americans outside that city. They have been told that a mosque built on the site will bring hurt to the families of 9/11 victims, and it cannot be lost upon them that their project will undo much of the hard work done by Muslims and non-Muslims together to build trust and community in the wake of 9/11.
There is no pressing need for a new mosque at 51 Park Avenue. The spiritual needs of Muslims in Manhattan are not presently underserved. So, the question arises, what men of genuine faith, men of charitable purpose, would persist with a discretionary project the certain result of which will be discord, hurt, pain and, perhaps, violence?
The building site is zoned for religious use. Neither justice, fair play nor the U.S. Constitution will permit discrimination against Muslims. As Americans, we cherish religious liberty. We could have it no other way.
On the other hand, neither justice, fair play nor the Constitution can confer upon the Park51 project any measure of moral legitimacy. It is morally illegitimate. It is the giving of offense simply “because we can.” It is uncharitable, and it is wrong.
All decent Americans were shamed by the Nazis who proposed to intimidate Jews in their name, just as American Protestants are shamed by the vile actions of members of Westboro Baptist Church who regularly disrupt funerals and intimidate families of fallen American soldiers to protest gays in the military. I am shamed as a Southerner every time I see the Confederate flag hanging in the rear window of a pickup truck. I know why it is there. I know what it means.
Sometimes it’s hard being an American. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that the liberties we so prize for ourselves can only be preserved by insuring that they are enjoyed by all. Sometimes it really is hard to love thy neighbor, but America will continue to be the land of the free only so long as Americans continue to do just that.
Park51 planners may intend to give offense, or they may not. I can’t read their minds, and I can’t know their hearts. But, I do know a couple of things. I know that it’s a bad idea to build a mosque and Islamic community center at Ground Zero. It is insensitive if only because non-Muslim New Yorkers think it so. No good can come of it, for Muslims, non-Muslims, New York or America.
I also know that those Muslims who would deliberately offend the sensitivities of a city still healing from the tragedy of 9/11 are no more representative of American Muslims as a community than the Nazis of Illinois were representative of white Protestants—no more representative of the thoughtful and sensitive Muslims who strive to live their lives peacefully and reverently than the bigoted “sons of the Confederacy” are representative of Atlantans or Nashvillians. If we think otherwise, we will all be the losers.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
“I am shamed as a Southerner every time I see the Confederate flag hanging in the rear window of a pickup truck. I know why it is there. I know what it means.”
Do tell !
As a Southerner I also know what it means. It means that my ancestors fought against an oppressive government that was trying to over tax them, out of the need to finance the north’s infrastructure.
Slavery?
Don’t go there! you will loose!
White Supremacy?
Don’t go there! you will loose!
States rights ! Now a thing of the past.
Arizona is being sued for trying to rid the state of illegal residents. The federal government is again overstepping its authority.
Dave Tatum
Suffolk VA.
Spelling? Don’t go there! You will
looselose!lucex%2!x.? dang!!!@TrueConfederate I am intrigued by your comment. What country did your ancestors fight in?
You could have stopped after writing this:
“We hope people will understand. We hope people will be reasonable, but sometimes they don’t and won’t.”
All Southerners should be PROUD OF THE CONFEDERATE FLAG! It stands for HONOR AND PRIDE which both are ALL MOST gone!
I’ll begin my remarks by noting I was born in Mi., spent most of my childhood & young adulthood in TN., lived in Little Rock, AR. for 4 years and in New Orleans, LA. for almost 7 years. I choose to return to TN. in 2002. This info. is given to qualify myself as one who has been privledged to actually live in a variety of places in the south and to enjoy many lifestyles and customs.
I identify myself as a southerner. However I do not identify myself as a confederate. In my south the war is over and the confederacy lost. I am very proud and quite grateful that Lee surrendered and that our nation began reconcillation.
I am very proud of being a citizen of the south. The south that has given us Willa Cather, Albert Gore Sr. AND Jr., William Faulkner, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton, Martin Luther King, Lyndon Johnson, Barbara Jordan, Maya Angelou, Margaret Mitchell and so many other great men and women who have blessed us by sharing ways that we too can celebrate the equality of men and women with respect and dignity. They are some of the southern people who have opened up the possibilities of what might happen when barriers are torn down and brains are engaged in common purposes of peace and equality. They are the people I admire and am proud to associate myself with as a southerner. They, I believe, like me share a common aversion of seeing public displays of a confederate flag or its likeness on a bumper sticker or decal. The roots of the confederacy are dead and dying. It is a history that should only bring pride when we realize along with defeat we were given the privledge to once again be a part of these United States of America.
Allow me to add another reason to object to the building of a mosque deliberately selected to stand next to Ground Zero. (I’m neutral about the one proposed from outside Murfreesboro, TN.) From more than one source I received information that wherever followers of Mohammed conquer a city or region, they build a mosque there as sign of the victory of their religion. Therefore there will be many disciples of the Arabian prophet — not all! just many — who will interpret such a mosque as the traditional symbol of conquest by Islam. They will see it as visual reminder that Osama and his Al-Quaeda thugs on 9-11 brought down one of the greatest symbols of American capitalism & world dominance, along with thousands of deaths. (I always wonder how Osama supporters justify his murder of fellow Moslems among those thousands?)
As for reminders of the Confederacy and the War Between the States, I, like Beverly, have lived for several decades now in the South in several places in three Southern States –FL, TN & TX. My great-grandfather was wounded fighting for the Lost Cause in the Battle of Spotsylvania CtHse.
I, too, know that many “rednecks” who display the CSA battle flag on their trucks or otherwise are being defiant of the great social changes in the South from Reconstruction to today (and also defiant of the growing power of the federal gov’t. v. states rights & individual rights). I also know that most of those who vigorously oppose display of said flag do so because it represents slavery, they say, and for no other reason. I, who have seriously studied the history of the antebellum and wartime South am VERY AWARE that slavery was merely one of several reasons the Confederacy came to be. Slavery didn’t even become the primary reason for the conflict until Pres. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation — which freed slaves ONLY in areas still under CSA control. Kentucky, Missouri & other slave States which remained Union remained also slave-holders, as did conquered portions of the CSA, until 18 December 1865 (enactment of 13th Amendment).
Due to some of the other reasons for secession, I do not see it as a black-&-white issue (with the Confederacy being the black/bad guys & the Union the white/good guys). For me, the CSA battle flag or any other symbol of the Confederacy is no cause for shame (other than that push came to shove, with one of the bloodiest wars in our antion’s history). It’s a symbol of a REALITY, of something that REALLY occurred, with good reasons and bad ones. And this reality is part of my heritage. Which heritage, in addition to my great-granddad ‘s fighting for the Lost Cause, includes ancestors who fought on the side which won.
On the subject of Islam & mosques in NYC, a friend in San Antonio who was a fellow volunteer in Kairos Prison Ministry sent me an e-mail with some shocking photographs, and even more disturbing commentary on them. I googled, and got this URL for the original e-article:
http://www.resistnet.com/group/thecornerstoneofthenation/forum/topics/this-is-nyc-on-madison?commentId=2600775%3AComment%3A2452339&xg_source=activity&groupId=2600775%3AGroup%3A1060784
Read it and weep for America as Political Correctness leads this one-time “land of the free and home of the brave” into Sharia being the law of the land. And isn’t it disturbing that our President just came out forcefully FOR the mosque at Ground Zero, as tho’ the ONLY concern is First Amendment freedon of religious expression, and he’s blind to the provocative implications of the location. Many people, not all of ‘em on the lunatic right-wing fringe, have accused Obama of being a crypto-Moslem. Now that he’s revealed his enthusiasm for the building of mosques in ANY locale, I’m starting to take the accusation seriously!
Glen Alan, I am really concerned that you believe the content of your last comment. President Obama did not come our in favor of building a mosque near ground zero. He simply made a public statement that the people who are planning the mosque have a legal right to build it. For the benefit of those who weren’t really listening the first time, he later amplified his comment by adding that he took no position on the advisability of building the mosque. What would you have him say? Do you really want the President of the United States to take up a public position in opposition to the First Amendment?
Why is it so surprising that Muslims who cannot fit into a mosque might pray outside the mosque? Traffic flow in many major cities is disrupted, to the point of necessitating diversion of traffic to different routes, by large numbers of cars parked along the streets bordering major churches. I remember traffic in Dallas being brought to an absolute standstill for hours many years back by a Billy Graham Crusade. In this country we accommodate the reasonable needs of people engaged in lawful activity. Often that means blocking off streets to protect foot traffic.
For God’s sake Glen, you see this done in Nashville all the time for purposes both religious and secular. It wasn’t more than three weeks ago that all traffic on Ellington Parkway and other interior streets was closed on Sunday morning, making it difficult for many people in East Nashville to get to church, in order to accommodate an organization that was sponsoring an athletic event. A section of downtown Nashville is blocked off for a Christmas parade every December. Surely, we can divert traffic in a city in order to allow people to observe what they believe to be their obligation to pray!
If President Obama is secretly a Muslim and has been fooling us for nefarious purposes, he is far more clever than I ever believed him to be. He had the foresight to begin playing this game more than 20 years ago when he became a member of the United Church of Christ. Now, that’s thinking ahead!