This Wall Street Journal article adds a bit of historical perspective to the furor over the proposed World Trade Center mosque by considering another sensitive religiously-themed situation. The article discusses the group of Carmelite nuns that moved into an abandoned building near the site of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in the 1980s. As the article describes, the nuns were completely convinced that they were doing a good thing by setting up a chapel where they could pray for the souls of those who had been killed in the camp, and they were well within their legal rights to locate where they did. However, their actions were taken by many in the Jewish community as an affront or a challenge to what is perceived as a place of uniquely Jewish suffering. The article describes how Pope John Paul II resolved the situation (I won’t steal his thunder if you don’t already know).
I’ve been fighting with the issue of the WTC mosque in my heart and mind from the first day I heard of it. My libertarian instincts immediately come to the fore and say, “it’s a free country, and legislating or regulating against its creation means that any church, synagogue, or chapel could be attacked in the same manner.”
On a more human and personal level, however, the actions of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf — trying to put a mosque right in the middle of an area where, (like it or not) followers of his religion, using that religion as a justification for their actions, murdered over 3,000 people, is so profoundly offensive it boggles the mind. Rauf’s actions are akin to interrupting a funeral service with loud, off-color jokes, or prolonged flatulence. No sensible person would ever consider doing what he is doing unless they had another motive that pushed them beyond the bounds of civilized behavior.
Reasonable people would wait for improv. night at the local pub, or remove themselves to the washroom to deal with their intestinal distress. But here we are and, amazingly, Rauf and his supporters not only continue to stink up ground zero, they’re doing it with what appears to be a perverse sense of enjoyment. And, the project is moving closer and closer to becoming a reality.
(Really, is anyone that dense that they accept Rauf’s claim to be building bridges between faith communities by engaging in behavior analogous to demanding a blood transfusion from local Jehovah’s Witnesses? Building bridges involves taking the time to understand why people are offended and repeatedly stabbing a sharp stick into the eye of those who’ve been offended doesn’t count.)
It was in this sense that the WSJ article noted above, and the historical context it provided, helped to clarify what I had quietly hoped would be the option chosen. As any libertarian will know, rights entail responsibilities and, just because you have a right to do something, doesn’t always mean that you should do it. While Rauf may have the right to build the mosque at ground zero, it is patently obvious that to do so is a grotesque offense to any basic human sense of right and wrong. Rauf and his backers need exercise their rights to build in a different location.
One would hope that people around the country would see that, as hard as it is to admit, our Constitutional freedoms protect our right to say what we want to say, even if it is offensive. You have the right to tell rude jokes and fart in a funeral, just as Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is doing. Civilized people wouldn’t do it and any decent individual would encourage them to take their bad behavior elsewhere, but we don’t legislate against the freedom to act in that manner.
So, for what its worth, I would suggest that those who (quite rightly) find Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s actions offensive make sure to let him know about your outrage. Do everything you can, legally and morally, to encourage him to take his mosque somewhere else. Send letters to his financiers, protest the building site, set up another organization and petition to build a synagogue or church in this building. I only urge you to not use a legislative or regulatory means to attack the mosque that will some day be used to trample the free speech and religious rights of other groups.
Update: David Harsanyi penned a column with similar sentiments for Reason Magazine today.
Update 2: If this article doesn’t demonstrate Rauf’s underlying motivations, I’m not sure what does.
The imam behind plans to build a controversial Ground Zero mosque yesterday refused to describe Hamas as a terrorist organization.
According to the State Department’s assessment, “Hamas terrorists, especially those in the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, have conducted many attacks, including large-scale suicide bombings, against Israeli civilian and military targets.”
Asked if he agreed with the State Department’s assessment, Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf told WABC radio, “Look, I’m not a politician.
“The issue of terrorism is a very complex question,” he told interviewer Aaron Klein.
I’ve listened to the audio of this interview and the interviewer asks Rauf over and over again if he will just denounce Hamas as a terror group. Rauf ignores the question and repeatedly states that he is interested only in “building bridges,” and he won’t allow himself to be put in a position of making that kind of statement. However, there’s nothing complex when it comes to denouncing Hamas as a group of murderers, thugs, and terrorists. Trying to build bridges to Hamas’ hate-filled world is straight up wrong.
