We have all been awed by how inflamed and emotional the issue of the proposed community center has become. The level of attention reflects the degree to which people care about the very American values under debate: recognition of the rights of others, tolerance and freedom of worship.
Many people wondered why I did not speak out more, and sooner, about this project. I felt that it would not be right to comment from abroad. It would be better if I addressed these issues once I returned home to America, and after I could confer with leaders of other faiths who have been deliberating with us over this project. My life’s work has been focused on building bridges between religious groups and never has that been as important as it is now.
We are proceeding with the community center, Cordoba House. More important, we are doing so with the support of the downtown community, government at all levels and leaders from across the religious spectrum, who will be our partners. I am convinced that it is the right thing to do for many reasons….
Is there a platitude he has managed to miss? This is vacuous writing, thin and insubstantial. The sum is this: We are going to build where we want and for the rest of the US, get used to it. Larry
Hm Larry. I think we read a different article. I did not know there would be prayer rooms for Christians and Jews, for example. I’m curious to know why you’re so dismissive of his point that Muslims are surprised that a Christian and a Jew would defend their right to pray. Their attitude to us has been (wrongly, perhaps), that we don’t believe in the pluralism our constitution guarantees.
The sum is this: Love the Lord and your neighbor. It may be thin for some, but for others, it is indispensable.
Wow, it’s great to see all that healing and reconciliation that the Imam is bringing to our country!
Reminds me of the guy who wants to burn the Korans.
I feel so unified now. Just like I feel when I read a letter from our Dear Leader, Schori.
I feel the same way, Sarah. And I agree with Larry, though one wonders how long the so-called prayer rooms will stay. My feeling is that what this guy really is about is self-promotion. But that’s pretty much true of anyone in any religion who rises to the top.
Sarah, that is not surprising. They most probably have the same source for inspiration.
Although the Imam mentioned separate prayer rooms he did not say whether a Mosque would be part of the center.
I know very little about the Muslim religion and its practices so I hope someone can answer the following questions:
Does anyone know what would happen if a female or male tourist, walked into a Mosque while they were having services and the Imam was speaking to members of the Mosque?
Would the tourist be allowed to stay and listen until the service was over?
Would the Male be treated differently from the Female?
Are the news media allowed to attend services in most Mosques and hear the sermons even if they have not been invited?
#2. I do try to love my neighbor, and i take this to mean (as C.S.Lewis taught me) that I wish him well as I wish myself well. This doe NOT mean that i allow him, because I am spineless, to stab me in the back. As an author I have heard of remarked, that one may smile and smile and still be a villain. This speech is the serpent’s speech, glozing and manipulative. If you can’t see the apple, I can. Larry
What did he REALLY need to say if he were to heal some of the injury presently bleeding? He SHOULD have said, “We not only reject any connection of Islam with its current violent history, but I declare that no such Moslem will pass unnoticed in this mosque, nor would we ever protect such a one from the law. We declare them outlaw. In short, he should have shown a readiness to act, not babble bromides. And this is what he did not do – and won’t.
I was watching the Lehrer News Hour, and what we heard over and over was was “bigot, bigotry, Islamophobe” and all that. Not one mentioned the obvious fact that Islam has an appalling record IN FACT around the world, that the terrorists are NOT a tiny fringe group, that large numbers of Moslems agree with the suicide bombers. and that radicals pervade the system worldwide. In short, all opposition to the the spread of contemporary version of Islam is anything but the product of ignorance and that big bugbear “fear of the unfamiliar.” Larry