One Little Building…One Big Mess!

So here in America, I am impressed: after nine years, we have not managed to forget September 11, 2001. Since Americans have a collective memory span only slightly longer than the attention span of a rabid squirrel on crack, that’s amazingly impressive. It’s also irritating as all get out when some drama queen decides to get their panties in a bunch over half-truths and outright lies about a possible construction project in Manhattan, so let’s set the record straight:

• 2,851 people died on September 11, 2001 during the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center (that number includes only the World Trade Center and the four planes – for this discussion, the Pentagon is not included).
• Contrary to popular belief, the victims were not all American citizens. The victims were citizens of 55 different nations. Of those 55 nations, 8 have populations whose dominant religion is Islam.
• Approximately 1% of the victims of the 9/11 attack on the WTC were known to have been Muslim (given the number of foreign nationals and the number of potential Americans who may have been Muslim who were killed in the attack, that number could actually be higher, but there is no solid confirmation of that), which, according to traditional, non-extremist, interpretations of the Koran, makes the attacks a crime against Islam.
• The Christian Church that is “tied up in government red tape” is “tied up” because the builders wish to rebuild at the original site: Ground Zero. First, Ground Zero’s ownership is ambiguous. Second, the construction of the new World Trade Center is already underway, with some towers completed and the memorial to the 9/11 victims due to be opened on the tenth anniversary of the attacks. This explains why there is a delay.
• The “mosque” in question is not just a mosque: it is a 13 story mosque and cultural center that will be open to the public (as a general rule, many mosques are not open to the public). It will include include an auditorium, a theater, a performing arts center, a fitness center, a swimming pool, a basketball court, a childcare area, a bookstore, a culinary school, a food court, and an Islamic prayer space. It is to replace a building that was once a Burlington Coat Factory, meaning that it is a commercially-zoned location not located within the Ground Zero area – in point of fact, it is about three blocks from Ground Zero and the building was itself damaged by wreckage from the towers on 9/11. The point of even buying the property and building the facility there, specifically, according to Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, the man in charge of the project, is because it “sends the opposite statement to what happened on 9/11,” and “…to push back against the extremists.”
• President Obama is not a Muslim, he is a Christian. He also was not born in Africa; he was born in Hawaii. He lived in Indonesia as a child, which is a nation whose population is predominantly Muslim (last I checked, estimates were around 80%, but that may have changed in the last few years since they had a openly Christian Presidential candidate fairly recently), however, he, like many, many other people who have lived/been raised in Indonesia, is Christian.

Before I stated my (incredibly strong) opinion on the matter, I wished to separate fact from fiction. Today’s media is very much into half truths, misstating facts, sensationalizing, and causing unnecessary drama to increase ratings and readership. The petition to deny the basic freedoms this country was founded on and for which I fought that I got in my inbox tonight pissed me off – for a lot of reasons.

First, it goes against the law of the land. Our Constitution gives every citizen the right to practice his or her religion freely. I swore – three times – to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic” and to “bear true faith and allegiance to the same” and if you are trying to tell me that some bloke doesn’t deserve to freely practice his faith in the United States because his faith happens to be the same as 19 mass murderers who committed a heinous crime one day 9 years ago, then you are one of those enemies I swore to support and defend the Constitution against. Further, you are an enemy of the very nation you think you are defending because you don’t respect the very laws that are its foundation, so GET OUT and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out – and be sure to leave your passport because we don’t want you back. There are plenty of places where the law only applies to the chosen few who believe a certain way: contact the nearest Taliban recruiter to learn more about them.

See these guys if you want to live someplace where the laws only apply to some of the people some of the time.

Second, it goes against my faith. Yep, that’s right. What would Jesus do? Well, He told us very simply and more than once: He would obey the law of the land, whether He agreed with it or not. I’m pretty sure Jesus didn’t agree with paying a Temple tax, but when the time came, he made sure that both His and Simon Peter’s was paid and told Simon Peter to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and render unto God what is God’s.”

When they came to have Him answer to the High Priest, Simon Peter went to fight and Jesus rebuked him. Not only that, but Jesus healed the man whom Simon Peter had injured. At any point, Jesus could have busted out of those restraints and rained holy retribution down on that place, but He did not. The laws He submitted Himself to were, largely, the laws of men. He did much the same when He went before Pilate and, of course, when He was crucified – submitted himself to the laws of men when he did not have to. Later, those who would follow the path Christ laid out are instructed to submit also to the laws of the land in which they live.

It also goes against my faith because it is judging an entire 1.7 billion people by the actions of what really amounts to a very tiny minority. If the entire world judges all believers by the actions of people like Fred Phelps, would we believers – rightfully – be outraged enough (finally!) to publicly cast Westboro Baptist, Pat Robertson and others like them out of our midst?

Sadly, this is not considered child abuse.

Edmund Burke said that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. I believe, in this case, good men need to stand up and say that the law is blind and applies equally to all citizens of the United States, regardless of religion or race or color. I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what Jesus would do. I’m also pretty sure that’s exactly why Jesus stayed the hell out of politics and why we should too – doing what’s right and doing what’s politically expedient are rarely one and the same.

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