The Opponents Of The Cordoba House Demonstrate Its Need

[pinboy3niner]

This excellent column on the issue is worth reading in full.


The Opponents Of The Cordoba House Demonstrate Its Need
by Mitchell Polman | 1:11 pm, August 24th, 2010

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I’ve thought of this many times as I listen to this debate and hear people talk about “peaceful Muslims” versus “radical Muslims” or simply “The Muslims”. Would Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich talk about Baptists as “radical Christians”? Are Mennonites “peaceful Christians”? How about secular Christians who don’t consider faith central to their lives just as some secularized Muslims do? They undoubtedly know the difference between Mormons, Amish, Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Pentacostalists. Do they know the difference between Sufis, Druze, Salafis, Wahabis, and Ismailis? Do they not care or do they simply think it doesn’t matter? Would Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) refer to Lubavitcher Hassidics as “Radical Jews” and Reformist or Reconstructionist Jews as “Peaceful Jews”?

Of course, many of the opponents, such as Sarah Palin, protest that they have nothing against “peaceful Muslims”. Oh really? Try telling that to the Ahmadiyyahs. The Ahmadiyyahs are a small Islamic sect that are considered to be heretics by many in Indonesia and Pakistan where most of them live. In Pakistan, they are officially considered not to be Muslims. The Ahmadiyyas have been and continue to be victimized by extremist elements and even at the hands of some government officials in Indonesia. Many Ahmadiyyahs have been murdered by extremists. In short, they are “peaceful Moslems” who have a lot more experience dealing with Al-Qaeda types than most Americans do. Yet, when these “peaceful Muslims” tried to build a community center in Walkersville, Maryland in 2007 the result was a firestorm of controversy which included any number of locals expressing concern that the Ahmadiyyas, who are frequent targets of terrorism, were going to use the center as a cover to bring terrorists into this country. The Washington area media trotted out the usual shorthand about a “Muslim” group and opponents and supporters of a “Mosque” (sound familiar?). Nowhere was there any mention of Ahmadiyyas views, or why they wanted to build a center, or about the persecution Ahmadiyyas face at the hands of Muslim extremists. The “Islam Watch” website warned about Walkersville being “besieged” by Ahmadiyyas. Ooo, scary! Eventually, the Ahmadiyyas backed down and the good people of Walkersville were spared the scary prospect of Muslim victims of al-Qaeda visiting their town. I’m sure if the peaceful Ahamdiyyahs were trying to start a center four blocks from Ground Zero they would be getting bashed all around.

In my view though, there should be a special place in hell for political consultants like Ed Gillespie and Ed Rollins. On the August 15th edition of CBS’ Face the Nation they disparaged President Obama’s defense of the Cordoba House as “disdainful of the American people” and generally bad politics. Apparently, demagoguery, fear mongering and ignorance are good politics and trying to appeal to the better nature and instincts of the American people is just terrible politics. America has thankfully been spared the horrors of religious base fratricide, but one can be sure that if it should happen in this country it will be due to the likes of Rollins and Gillespie and other political consultants who think that playing to popular fear of “The Other” without given any thought to the possible tragic results is just dandy if it gives you an election year advantage.
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As for the rest of America, they should take their cue from the two old gentlemen in Minot. They should keep their minds open and learn about others. I am confident that I don’t have to tell most Americans that. I hope when they visit New York that they will tour the Cordoba House and take the opportunity to engage in interfaith dialogue. Ground Zero and the surrounding area is the best possible location to be doing that.


http://www.mediaite.com/columnists/the-opponents-of-the-cordoba-house-demonstrate-its-need/

[maddezmom]

1. good read, thanks for posting

K&R