I think we’ve all heard as much as we want to hear about the Cordoba center, where it will be sited (near the twin towers site in New York) and the forciferous opposition from figures on the American left and right. We’ve probably read as much as we want to read about the horribly inaccurate version of history which seems to inhabit Newt Gingrich’s mind and the flawed and hypocritical late outcoming against the project by Democrat Harry Reid.
But amongst the wreakage we can find signs of life for the cause of common sense and hope for a future of a more balanced debate on other issues.
The center will include an already operational mosque but will also build an arts center and place for reasoned debate and dialogue between religions. Its common sense and what better tribute to the lives lost on the 11th of September 2001 than a place where people can come together and work out their differences peacefully?
This isn’t insensitive it is inspired yet what is even more inspiring is the reaction of moderates irrespective of religion to the hysterical opposition against this building.
New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg deserves a medal for not only upholding the American dream of religious freedom but for doing the right thing in insisting that this center be built. He will inspire a new generation of New Yorkers and show them that there is an alternative to the usual grind of hysterical shouting matches.
Credit also should go to the new Jewish pressure group J Street founded by moderate Jewish Americans. Its message is sensible, for example : of course Israel should be able to defend itself but it must never resort to violent and unilateral military force.
So it has been at the forefront of campaigning for the Cordoba House project, has collected 10,000 signatures in a petition in favour of the project. It cites one simple reason for this campaign: that the freedom of religious expression is enshrined in the Bill of Rights and as such applies to all recognised and legal religions.
The same people who condemn the Cordoba House project and its backers forget the harsh lessons of their forefathers who had fled from Europe under a rain of repression and harrassment. It was that very repression which curtailed the freedom of those people and led to the establishment of religious tolerance in the new world. The opponents of the Cordoba House project should heed those lessons lest they be doomed to repeat them.
