by Sam Harris Info
Sam Harris is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation. His next book, The Moral Landscape, will be published in October. His website is www.samharris.org.
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After weeks of dodging the issue, at a White House Ramadan dinner Friday night, President Obama came out in support of Park51, the planned Muslim community center and mosque two blocks away from the World Trade Center site.The President says he wasn't endorsing the ground zero mosque—only defending the right to build it. Sam Harris on his failure to acknowledge that Islam is different than other faiths.
Should a 15-story mosque and Islamic cultural center be built two blocks from the site of the worst jihadist atrocity in living memory? Put this way, the question nearly answers itself. This is not to say, however, that I think we should prevent our fellow citizens from building “the ground zero mosque.” There is probably no legal basis to do so in any case—nor should there be. But the margin between what is legal and what is desirable, or even decent, leaves room for many projects that well-intentioned people might still find offensive. If you can raise the requisite $100 million, you might also build a shrine to Satan on this spot, complete with the names of all the non-believing victims of 9/11 destined to suffer for eternity in Hell. You could also build an Institute of “9/11 Truth,” catering to the credulity, masochism, and paranoia of the 16 percent of Americans who imagine that the World Trade Center was intentionally demolished by agents of the U.S. government. Incidentally, any shrine to conspiracy thinking should probably also contain a mosque, along with a list of the 4,000 Jews who suspiciously declined to practice their usury in the Twin Towers on the day of the attack.
The erection of a mosque upon the ashes of this atrocity will also be viewed by many millions of Muslims as a victory—and as a sign that the liberal values of the West are synonymous with decadence and cowardice.
The New York Times has declared that the proposed mosque will be nothing less than “a monument to tolerance.” It goes without saying that tolerance is a value to which we should all be deeply committed. Nor can we ignore the fact that many who oppose the construction of this mosque embody all that is terrifyingly askew in conservative America—“birthers,” those sincerely awaiting the Rapture, opportunistic Republican politicians, and utter lunatics who yearn to see Sarah Palin become the next president of the United States (note that Palin herself probably falls into several of these categories). These people are wrong about almost everything under the sun. The problem, however, is that they are not quite wrong about Islam.
In his speech supporting the mosque, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said: “We would betray our values—and play into our enemies' hands—if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else.” This statement has the virtue of being almost true. But it is also true that honest, freedom-loving Muslims should be the first to view their fellow Muslims somewhat differently. At this point in human history, Islam simply is different from other faiths. The challenge we all face, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, is to find the most benign and practical ways of mitigating these differences and of changing this religion for the better.
It is both ironic and instructive that at the very moment that the path was finally smoothed for the construction of the ground zero mosque, the Hamburg mosque that nurtured the 9/11 hijackers was shut down by the German government. No doubt there were German Muslims who felt their religious liberty was shamefully abridged. However, after a decade of treating this mosque as a monument to tolerance, the Germans were forced to admit that it was actually an incorrigible incubator of jihadism and anti-Western values. And so, the question must be asked: Which of these sister mosques represents the true face of Islam?
123 August 13, 2010 | 11:19pm Twitter Emails
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"A monument to tolerance", is what the NYT calls it....when what they should be spelling out is every way the approval of the mosque smacks of political indulgence.
Religious extremists killing in Gods name is a story that has repeated itself since the beginning of time. The people who commit these acts, however, act against God not for him/them. Religions in general do not teach hate, they teach love,... acceptance and forgiveness.Muslims did not attack the World Trade Center. Just as we are not responsible for some of the worst travesties the world has ever seen, slavery, the holocaust. I choose to see this Mosque as a possible symbol to the world of our tolerance and acceptance. Sending the message that we know the difference between Muslims, and the destructive few that would unjustly kill in Gods name. In beginning and in the end we are the same.
When one mango is bad, it makes the other mangoes in a bucket bad.party platespaper plates
I do not accept & tolerate the glorifying of an Islam Mosque so near GZ.
Are there amy sushi bars around Pearl Harbor?
I thnk there are some very good Mexican Restaurants next to the Alamo.
"Are there amy sushi bars around Pearl Harbor?"Uh, actually, yes. And plenty of other Japanese American businesses. In fact, quite a few of the politicians in Hawaii and Oahu are Japanese-American. Thanks for bring up Pearl Harbor, because it is a great example of the opposite of your point.
I have heard plenty of moderates condemn extremists, they just don't get much airtime to have their voices heard. Maybe foxnews should give them their own show. I wonder why republicans hate the constitution so much.
I would rather a mosque in my town than the Westboro baptist church. And I live in Manhattan.
Thank You President Obama for upholding the Constitution. It is what makes our country so great.
AiriqSThere's a catholic convent outside Auschwitz which would make the point perhaps, more forcefully....
I don't know why I am so shocked to see such bigotry a fear mongering. The fact is, this is a local issue and those of you freaking out about a 'victory mosque' probably weren't directly impacted by 9/11 anyway. The New York community at large seems to think there's nothing wrong with this center, and they're in a much better position to determine what 'an insult' it might be than any of you folks.
Exactly. By the author's logic, we shouldn't build churches anywhere near the many abortion clinics bombed by Christian terrorist, nor should we build churches near the Olympics park in Atlanta because of the 1996 Christian terrorist attack. Furthermore, basically site of violence by the Christian terrorist organization the Klu Klux Klan should not have churches built around it because it would be insensitive to the victims.The fact of the matter is these types of people are extremists - by the very definition they are not mainstream, so it makes about as much sense as saying every Christian church in the United States is a house of terrorism as it does for a Mosque. Some people are bigoted idiots, but that's the beauty of the internet - everyone gets his say.
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